The Yemeni government  accepted a UN-proposed peace agreement to end civil war in the country. However, it set a pre-condition that the Houthi rebels and ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh need to sign the deal by August 7. Notably, the deal abolishes the supreme political council set up jointly by Saleh and the rebels, and nullifies all its decisions.

The announcement came after a high-level meeting in Riyadh chaired by Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi,

• Yemen has been torn apart by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels, allied with troops loyal to Saleh, stormed the capital, Sanaa, and later forced the government into exile.

• The deal would abolish a supreme political council set up by the Houthis and Saleh’s General People’s Congress to run the country, Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, Yemen’s foreign minister, said.

• According to the draft agreement, prisoners of war would be freed, as specified by the UN Security Council Resolution 2216, and a political dialogue between various Yemeni factions would start 45 days after the rebels withdraw and hand over heavy weapons to a military committee to be formed by President Hadi.

• A coalition comprising many Arab countries launched an air campaign against the rebels in March 2015. Since then, more than 9,000 people have been killed and 2.8 million driven from their homes.

• The conflict has also taken a horrifying toll on the country’s youth, with UNICEF warning that an estimated 320,000 children face life-threatening malnutrition.

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