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Yemeni rebels reject president's proposal to quell protests

by Reuters
Tuesday, 2 September 2014 13:03 GMT

SANAA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Yemen's Shi'ite Muslim Houthis group spurned the president's move to bring in a national unity government on Tuesday and partially restore fuel subsidies, saying they would press on with mass protests.

Government sources told Reuters earlier on Tuesday that President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi had dismissed the government and planned to cut petrol and diesel prices, partly meeting demands of Houthi protesters who have poured into the capital.

But Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesman for Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi, rejected the proposal in a statement on his Facebook page:

"We affirm that what was issued by the (government) committee is a position that represents it and we do not agree to it. Our position is still that we (stand) by the Yemeni people who have gone out in a blessed popular revolution to demand their legitimate and just rights," he said.

The Houthis have been fighting for years for more power for their sect in north Yemen. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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