Yemen’s Warring Sides Agree To Extend Truce for 2 Months: Report

Yemen’s warring sides have given their initial approval to extend the current nationwide truce for another two months. according to media reports. “Both warring sides expressed their initial agreement during their meetings with the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, who suggested the extension of the truce for additional two months,” a local government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told China’s Xinhua news agency on Wednesday. The source said that Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) had informed the UN of its conditional agreement to renew the truce. “The PLC agreed to extend the truce until Aug. 2 if certain conditions were met, including opening the blocked roads and ending the Houthi siege on the strategic city of Taiz,” he said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had a phone call Tuesday with PLC President Rashad Al-Alimi to discuss implementation of the UN-brokered truce. “The UN chief made a pledge to persuade the Houthis to implement the previous terms of the truce including opening the blocked roads for Taiz and preparing for an inclusive political settlement in the country,” said the Yemeni official. An official announcement of the truce extension is expected to be issued by Grundberg in the upcoming hours. Xinhua reports that another Yemeni official has confirmed that the Houthi rebels’ negotiating team also expressed their initial agreement to extend the UN-brokered truce, which began on April 2.