Ahlul Bayt News Agency, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani met on Monday with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to discuss efforts to consolidate Yemen’s truce with Shiite fighters.
Al-Thani met Saleh during a brief visit to Sana’a.
Saba reported that the two leaders discussed efforts by Qatar to implement a 2007 Qatari-brokered peace agreement signed in Doha by representatives of the Yemeni government and the Shiites, known as Houthis after the family of their leaders, Monstersandcritics.com reported. The talks focused on the results of a July visit by the Emir of Qatar to Sanaa, during which Qatar announced the resumption of its mediation efforts to end the conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, who are based in north-western Yemen. Yemeni officials declared the collapse of the Qatari mediation in August 2009, accusing the fighters of being unwilling to abide by the terms of the deal.
Fighting between the Shiite fighters in Saada province and government forces has continued sporadically since mid-2004. The two sides inked a peace agreement in February, but both sides have since been accusing each others of violating the deal.
Saada is a remote, mountainous province on the Saudi Arabian border, some 230 kilometers north of the capital Sana’a.
Under the 2007 Doha peace deal, the fighters should vacate their locations in the mountains of Saada, while the government in turn would gradually release detained fighters.
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