(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Yemen's Houthi group and the party of the former president have accepted a peace plan brokered by the United Nations in talks in Oman, paving the way for resuming negotiations to end months of conflict in the country.
Both groups said yesterday that they had officially notified UN chief Ban Ki-moon that they were ready to join talks on a settlement based on a seven-point peace plan proposed by the UN in talks in Oman last month.
In his letter dated October 3, Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdul-Salam confirmed that his group and others allied to it backed the seven-point plan.
"The Security Council supports a political settlement for the Yemen crisis and the return to the talks with no preconditions, and so do we," the letter added.
Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party also accepted the plan.
The GPC said the resolution's implementation must be accompanied by a halt to military operations and lifting of the blockade imposed by a Saudi-led coalition on Yemen.
The party's secretary general, Aref Zouka, has written to the UN chief stating the GPC is "committed to implementing the seven points set in co-ordination with the UN envoy" to end the conflict, it said.
Under the plan, the GPC would accept UN Security Council Resolution 2216 under an "implementation mechanism that would be agreed on by all parties" in Yemen, the party said.
Resolution 2216 calls for the withdrawal of rebel forces from territories they have captured and for them to lay down their arms.
The Iran-backed Houthis overran the capital Sanaa unopposed in September 2014 and went on to battle for control of several regions, aided by renegade troops loyal to Saleh.
In July, loyalist forces backed by the Arab coalition evicted the rebels from five southern provinces, and they have since set their sights on Sanaa.
Zouka called in his letter for "ending the war and urged all parties to start negotiations to set in place an implementation mechanism for Resolution 2216 that would organise withdrawal from cities and disarmament of all parties".
This must take place under UN supervision to prepare for a relaunch of the political process.
The coalition and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi regard Saleh as a spoiler trying to undermine a political accord that allowed him to step down following months of protests in 2011.
Hadi had previously refused a UN invitation to peace talks in the region, demanding that the Houthis publicly accept the UN Security Council resolution.
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