Yemen President rejects UN peace initiative, refuses to quit

The President of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, rejected the new United Nations peace initiative on Saturday which required him to step down and hand over power to a Vice President.

Xinhua news agency quoted Hadi as saying in a statement that he refused to receive the peace initiative from the UN envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who he was meeting in Riyadh.

The initiative required that he step down as President of Yemen and allow power to be transferred to a Vice President which rebel groups would help choose.

He said the ideas that were presented as a roadmap to peace would do nothing but plant the seeds of war, and would reward coup d'etat participants and damage the Yemeni people and the country's legitimacy.

According to Hadi, all state leaders, politicians, parties and civil organisations had rejected the initiative.

This latest attempt at peace followed a failed 72-hour ceasefire that ended last week, having been violated by both sides.

Yemen's civil conflict broke out in 2014 when Shiite Houthi rebels took control of the capital Sana'a, forcing the Yemeni government to relocate to the southern city of Aden.

--IANS

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