US pushes for new Yemen peace initiative

US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced a new initiative to restart Yemen peace talks, offering Houthi rebels participation in the country’s unity government in exchange for a transfer of their heavy weapons to a third party. Kerry said on Thursday that the “fair and sensible approach” to end the 18-month conflict was agreed […]

US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced a new initiative to restart Yemen peace talks, offering Houthi rebels participation in the country’s unity government in exchange for a transfer of their heavy weapons to a third party.
Kerry said on Thursday that the “fair and sensible approach” to end the 18-month conflict was agreed in talks with Gulf Arab states and the United Nations in Saudi Arabia.
“The bloodshed … has gone on for too long,” he said, speaking at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in the Saudi city of Jeddah. “It has to stop … There is no military solution.”
Kerry said that the restoration of stability to Yemen was vital in order to ease the suffering of the civilians and to prevent the armed groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group from taking further advantage of the power vacuum.