A ceasefire after months of war that killed thousands of Yemeni civilians is forthcoming in the war-ravaged Yemen, as warring factions decided to reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The seven-day ceasefire was reached to concur with the peace negotiations, which was scheduled to begin at noon, local time (4 a.m. ET), according to CNN reporter Jethro Mullen.
The United Nations, initiating the peace process has declared that peace negotiation will take place in Switzerland with the aim to end the hostilities that have ravaged the impoverished nations. The ceasefire will enable the warring sides, the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition to start the peace talks.
The conflict in Yemen started early this year, when Houthi rebels raised up arms against President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi’s forces and his supporter, the Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries and took control of the Capital.
Hadi’s government forces and the Saudi-led coalition tried to drive the Houthi militants out of the southern regions earlier in the year. Unfortunately, in spite of the troop’s deployment to help restore stability and security in the country, the authorities were not to bring the situation under control.
Originally, the ceasefire was anticipated to start four hours earlier, but the schedule had been shove aside.
The Saudi-led coalition released a statement to Saudi state media late Monday of the killing of two senior officers in the coalition. One of the reported casualties was a Saudi and the other was from the United Arab Emirates. Saudi and Emirati state media reported that the two were killed in battle near the southwestern city of Taiz.
Yemen’s war has been a long-drawn-out conflict that tolerated rival terrorist groups, the al Qaeda and ISIS to take advantage of the fragile security situation and expanded their presence to several regions amid the security vacuum.
The U.N. while addressing the “escalating humanitarian crisis” in the midst of the fighting that brought millions of Yemeni people to hunger due to lack of food supplies viewed the peace peace talks as “the only way to end the suffering of the Yemeni people.” This is according to the statement made by the U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Both al Qaeda and ISIS have launched deadly attacks and have become active in some cities, including the capital Sanaa. In the 2011 unrest the al Qaeda took over Zinjbar, Jaar and other towns in the south. But in 2012, government forces with support of the U.S. drone attacks have taken again all towns, which were controlled by al Qaeda.
Hopes are high that the recent ceasefire will not end up as in the previous ceasefire agreement. The predecessor peace process in Yemen has not been successful to end the hostilities. This “have fallen apart or only been partially observed,” because the opposing warring parties have not honored and carried out the agreements.
The latest bout of hostilities in Yemen, is struggle that not only with ISIS but also al Qaeda, and Houthi rebels that is wrestling with an ouster of its president.
