Ex-Yemen leader urges rebel allies to heed UN, pull back

Sanaa: Yemen´s influential former president urged his rebel allies Friday to heed UN demands to withdraw from territory seized in months of fighting, so Saudi-led air strikes can end and reconciliation begin.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who still holds sway over army units allied with the Huthi rebels who now control large swathes of the country, had welcomed this month´s Security Council resolution as a way to "stop bloodshed" in Yemen.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the fighting since late March, according to the UN, which said Friday at least 115 children were among the dead.

Saleh, in a statement read on his Yemen Today television channel, said: "I call on (the Huthis) to accept all UN Security Council decisions and to implement them in return for a halt in the coalition forces´ aggression."

"I urge them and everyone -- militias and Al-Qaeda as well as militias loyal to (President Abedrabbo Mansour) Hadi -- to withdraw from all provinces, especially Aden," the main southern city where fighting has raged between rival forces.

The Saudi-led coalition, which began an air war on rebels and their allies on March 26, announced an end to that campaign on Tuesday in favour of seeking a political solution, but strikes have continued.

Saleh, who still heads the influential General People´s Congress party, called for UN-brokered Saudi-Yemeni talks to be held in Geneva.

He proposed that all provinces be handed over to "the army and security apparatus under the control of local authorities in each province". (AFP)