Yemen Prez calls in Houthis for negotiations to end the civil war

Sanaa, Rashad al-Alimi, chief of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), has called on the international community to drastically change its long-standing approach to dealing with his country's years-long civil war. Al-Alimi said during his speech at the general debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly that there's a necessity for the international community to adopt a new approach to Yemen's crisis and put an end to the world's worst humanitarian sufferings, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the state-run Saba news agency, al-Alimi confirmed the PLC's commitment to the peace option as the only solution to Yemen's deadly conflict."The PLC has opted for a peace approach since the first day in order to put an end to the humanitarian sufferings, eliminate the coup, restore the state and go on establish freedoms, human rights, equal citizenship, and empower women and youths to contribute to building up sustainable peace," said al-Alimi. He blamed the Houthi militia for prolonging the war, worsening the Yemeni peoples' sufferings by blocking all regional and international peace proposals and efforts.

"Since the early days of the Yemeni crisis, we sought peace, but the militias have never honored any agreement it has signed. We engaged in negotiations with the militias several times, starting on the eve of the militias' taking over the capital Sanaa in September 2014.