Yemen ready to discuss cease-fire if Houthis withdraw – minister
Yemeni Foreign Minister Riad Yassin said Monday his government could discuss a limited cease-fire with Houthis, but only if the Iran-backed militia withdrew from cities, released more than 6,000 prisoners and complied with a U.N. resolution, Reuters reports.
Earlier U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened peace talks in Geneva with a call for a humanitarian cease-fire, saying Yemen was on the verge of a collapse that the Middle East could not withstand.
Yassin, part of President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi's government in exile in Riyadh, told reporters: "If they start complying with the U.N. resolution, release prisoners they are holding, more than 6,000, including the defense ministers and others, if they withdraw from Aden and Taiz and other cities and stop killing innocent people, then you can discuss."