RIYADH — Yemen's Vice President Khaled Bahah, a politician respected across the country's spectrum of factions, called on Houthi forces to stop advances on cities and heed a UN Security Council demand for an end to fighting, local media reported. Baha made these comments during a visit to the Yemeni Embassy in Saudi Arabia on Monday. “The brothers in Ansarullah are called on to fear God with the Yemeni people and stop their war on the cities,” Yemeni news website www.voice-yemen.com reported, referring to the Shiite Muslim Houthi group by its official name. “Everybody must realize that the UN Security Council resolution 2216 created a framework to end the conflict and that any initiative or dialogue would be for a mechanism to implement this resolution,” he added. The Houthis have rejected the resolution, which imposes an arms embargo on the group and on supporters of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh and demands the Ansarullah group drop its weapons and quit cities, including the capital Sanaa, it captured since September, Other Yemeni news websites, including barakish.net, also carried the remarks. Yemen had been in crisis since the Houthis advanced on Sanaa in September last year and demanded to be involved in plans to restructure the political system and to fight corruption. Residents said heavy clashes were reported overnight in the oil-producing Marib province east of the capital Sanaa and in the strategic city of Taiz in central Yemen and the southern city of Aden. Bahah is popular among many of Yemen's feuding parties, and his appointment earlier this month has created hopes for a negotiated solution to the conflict. — Reuters
