Yemen's Shiite rebels announce ceasefire with Saudi Arabia (Roundup)

Jan 25, 2010, 14:36 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - The leader of Yemen's Shiite rebels Abdul-Malik al-Houthi announced on Monday a unilateral ceasefire with Saudi Arabia, saying that his followers would withdraw from Saudi territories.

'We announce our total withdrawal from all the Saudi positions and territories under the control of the Saudi regime,' al-Houthi said in an audiotape sent to journalists by e-mail.

The rebel leader pledged to wage an 'open war' if Saudi Arabia continues attacks against his group's positions in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada.

'Its (Saudi Arabia) insistence to continue the aggression after this initiative gives us the legitimacy to open new fronts and to wage an open war,' al-Houthi said.

He said the unilateral ceasefire aims at 'saving the blood of civilians.'

Al-Houthi's announcement comes three days after he appeared in a video recording denying claims by the Yemeni government that he was injured or killed.

The young rebel leader spoke briefly in the 35-second video posted on the group's website showing him sitting on a chair with no visible injuries.

Several government ministers have said in recent remarks to the press that al-Houthi was seriously wounded and may have been killed after an air strike on his hideout in Saada late in December.

Members of al-Houthi group, known as Houthis, have been battling the Yemeni government forces since mid-2004 in Saada located on the border with Saudi Arabia.

They say they are fighting against the Yemeni government's corruption and its alliance with the United States.

The Sana'a government accuses the Houthis of trying to reinstall the rule of Shiite imams who were toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.

In November, the rebels carried out a cross-border raid, killing a Saudi border guard, and drawing Saudi forces into the conflict.