Yemen rebels weigh draft deal on new government

A Yemeni presidential delegation has handed the Shiite Huthi rebels a draft proposal on forming a technocrat government, an official spokesman said Saturday, amid tensions around a rebel encampment in Sanaa.
The presidential delegation has been holding talks with rebel commander Abdulmalik al-Huthi in his northern Saada stronghold since Thursday to convince his group to join a new government.
Huthi supporters, meanwhile, have been staging protests against a steep hike in fuel prices and demanding the incumbent national unity government step down.
The government, headed by Prime Minister Mohamed Basindawa, was formed in December 2011 under a transition agreement that paved the way for ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster.
"There is a draft agreement and we are waiting for the Huthis to sign and start implementing it in the next hours," presidential team spokesman Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi told reporters in Saada.
He said the main points in the accord were to form "a technocrat government within a one-month period from the date of signing the draft document and an economic committee to review the country's economic situation."
But tension prevailed in the capital as thousands of Huthi supporters joined an encampment erected Friday by Zaidi rebels on a road in northern Sanaa leading to the airport and where the interior, communication and electricity ministries are located.
Huthi activist Khaled al-Madani, a leading organiser of the Sanaa sit-in, told AFP: "We are not concerned by the presidential delegation or by any agreements.
"What we care about is achieving the demands we took to the streets for: overthrowing the government and revoking of the decision" to raise fuel prices.
However, Madani reaffirmed earlier Huthi pledges that their protests will remain "peaceful."
Late on Friday, authorities stepped up security around the interior ministry, just 100 metres (yards) from the Huthi encampment.
Armoured vehicles were deployed and new checkpoints set up around the compound.
Thousands of armed Shiite rebels, also known as Ansarullah or Huthis, have strengthened their positions around Sanaa over the past week as they press their campaign.
- Fears of new unrest -
The movement has raised fears of a new wave of violence in impoverished Yemen, which is in political transition at a time of an Al-Qaeda insurgency and a southern separatist campaign.
President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi on Thursday urged the armed forces to "raise their level of vigilance".
The Zaidi rebels have opposed the government's plans for a six-region federation, and demanded a single region for the northern highlands and a greater share of power in the federal government.
They control Saada province in the far north and parts of several neighbouring provinces.
Rebels reached the outskirts of Sanaa in July after seizing Amran to its north, although they later agreed to withdraw.
Ansarullah has been fighting an on-off conflict with government troops in Yemen's northern mountains for the past decade.
The Zaidi Shiites, a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen, form the majority in the northern highlands, including the Sanaa region.
Source: AFP