Arab League urges political solution to Yemeni crisis as cease-fire declared

The Arab League on Wednesday urged a political solution to the Yemeni crisis and welcomed a U.S.-brokered truce between Yemen's Shiite Houthi group and the Saudi-led Arab military coalition, said a senior official with the pan-Arab body.


"The Arab League welcomes the announcement of a cease-fire in Yemen and the work on pushing dialogue between Yemeni parties to reach a political solution to the ongoing crisis in order to preserve Yemen as well as people, land and entity," its Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters in Cairo.

He added that the Arab League is in contact with the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and the legitimate Yemeni government in a bid to reach a political settlement in the war-torn country.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, during his recent Gulf tour, said that the Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition had agreed to a ceasefire starting Thursday.

However, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said that Kerry's announcement was not coordinated with the Yemeni government that was "not interested" in Kerry's plan, describing the U.S. bid as "a media bubble."
 (Xinhua/xinhuanet.com)
16-17/11/16