A senior Yemeni official on Friday accused northern rebels of violating a ceasefire agreement hours after it took effect, killing a soldier and wounding another in an attack on a police station.
However, government authorities and rebel leaders both insisted the truce deal still holds, despite minor flare ups in fighting between the sides.
After six years of war, Yemen has come under international pressure to quickly draw a close to the conflict to free up resources to confront a separate threat from an al-Qaeda offshoot that has established a base of operations in the country a year ago.
Yemeni Deputy Interior Minister Lieutenant General Mohammed Abdullah al-Qawsi said the rebels attacked a security office and opened fire on his convoy in the northern province of Saada — a militant stronghold.
Al-Qawsi said the attack came “less than an hour after the ceasefire was announced.”
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared an end to military operations against the rebels late on Thursday, and the truce took effect at midnight.
The Hawthi rebels said in a statement posted on their Web site on Friday that they would respect the ceasefire. Leader Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi “has given instructions to all fighting fronts to cease fire as per the time announced by the Yemeni government,” the statement said.
Yemeni security officials said they expected minor violations of the deal in the short term, but insisted the ceasefire still held. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.
Several earlier ceasefires quickly disintegrated, mainly because the rebels said their demands were not addressed, and it was not clear whether the truce announced on Thursday would hold. But the rebels and the government have come under international pressure to end the conflict this time, and both sides appear eager to do so.
The UN, which warned of a looming refugee crisis in Yemen after the fighting uprooted an estimated 125,000 people, welcomed the ceasefire.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “is encouraged by the news” of the ceasefire and hopes it will hold and “provide an opportunity to fully resolve this conflict,” UN spokesman Marin Nesirky said.
“The UN continues to call for full access for humanitarian assistance to be provided to the affected civilian population,” Nesirky told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
Under the government’s truce offer, the rebels have agreed to disarm, release captured soldiers and property, clear mountain hideouts, abide by the constitution and vow not to attack Saudi Arabia.
The northern rebels are ferocious fighters who know the country’s mountainous terrain better than Yemen’s army. The fighting intensified in August, claiming an undetermined number of lives and sending 125,000 people fleeing their homes.
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