Saudi FM announces Yemen ceasefire to start Tuesday

The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel bin Ahmed Al Jubeir announced that a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen conflict would start on Tuesday and will last for five days.

"We have made a decision that the ceasefire will begin this Tuesday, May 12, at 11.00 pm and will last for five days subject to renewal if it works out," the Saudi Foreign Minister said at a joint press conference with US State Secretary John Kerry on the sidelines a meeting for the GCC Foreign Ministers in Paris on Friday.

Al Jubeir underlined that the truce requires that Houthi militia and its allies, including the ousted President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh and forces loyal to him should commit themselves to the truce.

He also said that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, had already appropriated an amount of USD 274 million for relief assistance as part of the efforts exerted by the United Nations in Yemen in this regard. This is in addition to the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia to Yemen, pointing out that there will be a lot of organizations and other countries that would like to participate in the distribution of aid in Yemen.

He recalled that the Saudi King has called for the convening of a conference in Riyadh under the auspices of the United Nations and the UN special envoy to Yemen, calling all Yemeni parties to take part.

He expressed hope that the conference would lead to steps forward to reach a political solution to the situation in Yemen, vowing that Saudi Arabia is committed to work for contacts what would restore all parties to prompt and unconditioned talks in a way that allows Yemen to enter into a comprehensive political process.

The Minister noted that the GCC Foreign Ministers meeting in Paris, in which Kerry took part, dealt with the 5+1 talks regarding the Iranian nuclear issue in addition to the agenda of Camp David scheduled meeting to be held in Washington on May 13-14 between the GCC leaders and the US President Barack Obama.