image source, AFP
Yemen’s government and Shiite Houthi rebels have signed a United Nations-sponsored deal to try to end a major political crisis in which rebels seized key strategic sites in the capital, Sanaa.
Under the agreement, a new government will be formed; the Houthis and the southern Herak movement have three days to present their candidate for prime minister.
The agreement was signed a few hours after the resignation of the hitherto prime minister, Muhammad Salim Basindawa.
The Houthis had demanded a new government and the restoration of fuel subsidies.
The deal will give the rebels an unprecedented role in the Yemeni government, apparently at the expense of their main rival, the Sunni Islamist movement Al Islah.
Several people have been killed and hundreds have fled as fighting has escalated in Sanaa over the past four days.
