UNITED NATIONS // Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to a cessation of hostilities starting at midnight on April 10, along with peace talks in Kuwait beginning April 18, UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Wednesday.
There have already been several failed attempts to defuse the conflict in Yemen, which has triggered a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country.
“This is really our last chance,” Mr Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in New York. “The war in Yemen must be brought to an end.”
The UN Security Council welcomed the announcement and urged parties to the conflict to “immediately reduce violence and refrain from any action that could lead to increased tensions, in order to pave the way for a cessation of hostilities”.
Mr Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Saudi Arabia is “fully committed to make sure that the next talks take place and particularly supports us with regard to the cessation of hostilities”.
The announcement came a day after a US air strike killed 50 militants at an Al Qaeda training camp in the mountains of southern Yemen.
The attack took place on Tuesday as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula recruits queued for dinner at the camp, west of of Mukalla on Yemen’s south coast.
The Pentagon said the strike had killed dozens of fighters. Yemeni tribal sources said that at least 50 people were killed and 30 wounded. The air strikes set off huge fires inside the camp, residents said.
The raid at a camp used by “more than 70” Al Qaeda fighters “deals a blow to AQAP’s ability to use Yemen as a base for attacks that threaten US persons”, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.
“We continue to assess the results of the operation, but our initial assessment is that dozens of AQAP fighters have been removed from the battlefield.”
“It demonstrates our commitment to defeating Al Qaeda and denying it safe haven,” he said.
Tribal sources said wounded militants were taken to a hospital in Mukalla, while witnesses spoke of around nine vehicles rushing casualties out of the area.
Dozens of Al Qaeda militants were meanwhile seen rushing to the hospital to donate blood, according to residents.
“The planes struck as Al Qaeda people stood in line to receive their dinner meal,” a local official said.
Yemeni residents had earlier said the attack on the base was carried out by war planes from a Saudi-led coalition which over the past year had been trying to stop the Iran-backed Houthi group from taking over the country.
AQAP has exploited the war to expand its control in Yemen, seizing Mukalla, capital of Hadramout province, in April last year and recruiting more followers.
Forces trying to restore the internationally-backed government have since retaken much of the south from the Houthi rebels but have failed to dislodge the group from other areas including the capital Sanaa.
But in the past few weeks, AQAP fighters and ISIL affiliates have bolstered their presence in southern and eastern Yemen.
Last week, Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck the fighters in Aden for the first time since the pro-government air campaign was launched on March 26 last year.
AQAP, which is well entrenched in Yemen where it has been active for years, is classified by the US as Al Qaeda’s deadliest franchise and had claimed attacks on the West in the past.
The US has frequently targeted Al Qaeda militants across Yemen with drone strikes, killing many prominent leaders of the group over the past few years.
It ruled the southern province of Abyan for a year before being driven out in June 2012.
But after capturing Mukalla, AQAP has expanded to regain its foothold in southern provinces including Abyan last year and nearby Lahj and Shabwa.
Saudi Arabia and Arabian Gulf countries including the UAE launched the intervention in Yemen last year after Shiite Houthi rebels seized Sanaa and pushed southwards, forcing the government into exile.
*Reuters and Agence France-Presse
