Qatari, Yemeni leaders discuss Shiite rebellion

Aug 16, 2010, 23:18 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani met Monday with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to discuss efforts to consolidate Yemen's truce with Shiite rebels, the state news agency Saba reported.

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 rebels, known as Houthis after the family of their leaders.

The talks focused on the results of a July visit by the Emir of Qatar to Sana'a, 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 rebels of being unwilling to abide by the terms of the deal.

Fighting between the Shiite rebels 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 kilometres north of the capital Sana'a.

Under the 2007 Doha peace deal, the rebels should vacate their locations in the mountains of Saada, while the government in turn would gradually release detained rebels.

The agreement provides that rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and his two brothers, Yahay and Abdul-Kareem, would be allowed to live in exile in Qatar.

Waves of clashes since mid-2004 have left hundreds of government troops and rebels dead and displaced around 350,000 civilians from their villages.

Yemeni officials have repeatedly accused the Houthis of trying to topple the republican regime and re-establish the rule of the Zaidi Imamate, a monarchy that was overthrown by a revolution in 1962.

The Houthis belong mostly to the Zaidi sect of Islam, which is regarded a moderate sect.