Yemen govt ‘not interested’ in Kerry’s deal

Yemeni Foreign Minister Al-Mekhlafi said Tuesday that his government was not consulted on the cessation of hostilities deal announced in the same day by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Mekhlafi criticized the agreement saying it will jeopardize prospects of reaching peace between Yemen’s warring sides.

“The government was not aware of nor is it interested in what Secretary Kerry announced, which represents a desire to scuttle peace efforts by trying to reach an agreement with the Houthis apart from the government,” Mekhlafi wrote on his official twitter page.

Mekhlafi made his statement after Kerry said the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen and the Arab Coalition have agreed to cessation of hostilities starting on Nov. 17.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a visit to the United Arab Emirates, Kerry added that all parties to the conflict have also agreed to work to set up a Yemeni national unity government by the end of the year.

In a related story, Saudi air defense forces on Tuesday intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Yemen towards the kingdom, the coalition said.

The missile was fired towards the Najran region but was shot down, said a coalition statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Coalition forces responded by targeting the source of the fire inside Yemen, it added.

The coalition has been engaged in a bombing campaign against the Houthis and their allies since March last year, and the militias have targeted their air bases.