Yemen, rebels agree to truce, eye reconstruction

SANAA, June 16 (Reuters) Yemeni Shi'ite rebels today said they had accepted a ceasefire proposed by the government to end months of violent clashes that have killed hundreds in the north of the Arab country.

State media said a ceasefire agreement was mediated by Qatar that committed Yemen to reconstruction in rebel areas, required rebels to give up their heavy weapons and included a temporary exile for their leaders.

''In response to the call ... and to prevent bloodshed, we declare a stop to violence and fighting and our commitment to the republican system and the constitution,'' said rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in a statement sent to journalists.

Yemen's state news agency said on Thursday government forces would stop military operations against the rebels if they laid down their arms.

State television said today that, under the agreement, Houthi and other rebel leaders would have to move to the Qatari capital Doha for an unspecified period and refrain from political and media activities against the Yemeni government.

Yemen's government has committed itself to a reconstruction programme for the northern province of Saada, the television said, adding that a reconstruction fund would be set up by Qatar and other countries.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes in Saada in the latest bout of a conflict that has raged on and off since 2004.

A government official told Reuters that officials had also promised rebel leaders that they would be allowed to set up their own political party after peace returns.

The rebels say their mountainous region, like many parts of Yemen, has been neglected. Western diplomats say they may want more autonomy.

The rebels oppose Yemen's close alliance with the United States. Officials say the group wants to install clerical rule.

In 2006, the government freed more than 600 of Houthi's followers in an amnesty but in January fighting erupted again following rebel attacks on the army.

Sunni Muslims are a majority of Yemen's 19 million population, while most of the rest are from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.

Yemen, the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, joined the US-led war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 2001 attacks in the United States.

Houthi's supporters are not linked to al Qaeda, whose Yemeni supporters attacked the U.S. destroyer Cole in 2000 and a French oil tanker in 2001 off the coast of Yemen.

Reuters KN SBA VP0135