Yemen: Peace talks in crisis as Houthis sign government deal

Houthi rebels and political allies of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh have signed a deal to set up a power-sharing council to govern war-shattered Yemen. But the United Nations says the deal threatens peace talks and Yemen’s government has reportedly reacted by declaring the peace process over. The Iranian-allied Houthis and Saleh loyalists hold most of the country’s north while Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, forced out of the capital Sanaa, is now based in Aden. But even there President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is struggling to impose his authority. A Saudi-led alliance intervened in Yemen’s conflict in March 2015 to try to restore Hadi to power. The devastating civil war has killed more than 6,000 people and caused a humanitarian crisis. A shaky ceasefire took effect in April. Around 1.5m children suffer from malnutrition in #Yemen, 370k of them severe acute malnutrition pic.twitter.com/RONMDOMgym— UNICEF (@UNICEF) 27 juillet 2016