Jordan circulates UN resolution aimed at ending Yemen fight

The resolution would ban arms shipments to leaders of Yemen's Houthi Shiite rebels and the country's former president and his son

Jordan circulated a draft UN resolution that would ban arms shipments to leaders of Yemen's Houthi Shiite rebels and the country's former president and his son in an effort to halt their military campaign against supporters of the embattled president and attempt to take over the strategic Mideast country.

The draft Security Council resolution demands that the Houthis "immediately and unconditionally" end all violence and withdraw their forces from the capital Sanaa and other areas they have seized since the fall of 2014. It also demands that the rebel group give up all arms and missiles seized from military and security facilities, stop acting like a government, and release the defence minister and all political prisoners.

Last November, the Security Council imposed an asset freeze and a global travel ban on former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has allied with the Houthis, the rebel group's military commander Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi and the Houthi's second-in-command Abdullah Yahya al Hakim.

The proposed resolution would ban the sale or transfer of arms to Saleh, al-Huthi and al Hakim and it would impose the same arms embargo on Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and Saleh's eldest son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh.

It threatens further sanctions against those engaged in or supporting acts that threaten the peace, stability or security of Yemen.

The proposed resolution is drafted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which can be militarily enforced.

The draft calls on all parties to resolve their differences through dialogue and accelerate UN-brokered negotiations on a political transition.

It urges the parties to respond positively to a call by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to attend a conference in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Yemen, to support the negotiations and transition.

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council previously proposed a draft resolution that would impose an arms embargo on the Houthis while Russia circulated a draft on Saturday calling for a "humanitarian pause" in airstrikes by a Saudi-led military coalition.

Experts met over the weekend to discuss the two drafts, and circulated the proposed new text Monday night to the 15 council nations. The experts met yesterday to go over the proposed draft.

It was circulated as the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis and their allies, including Saleh's backers, continued for a 13th day.

The World Health Organisation said yesterday at least 560 people have been killed and 1,768 wounded, many of them civilians, since the rebels and their allies launched an intensified land grab on March 19. It said another 100,000 have fled their homes.