- Title: Residents share hopes and doubts over Yemen ceasefire
- Date: 19th November 2016
- Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (NOVEMBER 19, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO YEMEN'S ANCIENT CITY VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING IN MARKET IN ANCIENT PART OF SANAA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SANAA RESIDENT, WALEED AHMED, SAYING: "We hope for a ceasefire and calm and that Saudis will commit to the truce and [stop] their air strikes. How was it that a ceasefire was announced on Thursday, November 17, but the air strikes are still ongoing?" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH THE MARKET IN OLD CITY PEOPLE WALKING PAST SHOPS MEN STANDING IN FRONT OF SHOPS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SANAA RESIDENT, WESAM HUSSEIN, SAYING: "We are optimistic that the war will end, God willing, and we ask politicians to continue [working on a] fundamental end solution for this difficult problem that's facing Yemenis, and hopefully we will overcome this crisis." SHOPKEEPER INSIDE SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OWNER OF SMALL RETAIL SHOP, GHAZY ALY AHMED, SAYING: "I'm not optimistic about this ceasefire at all. We've had more than one ceasefire that have failed and there were many violations. This ceasefire will not hold. I'm sure that there will be no commitment from either side, and when there's a ceasefire, every side prepares their soldiers to go back to war." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SANAA RESIDENT, ABDU AL-HABASHY, SAYING: "We want political parties to help stop the bloodshed and stop everything for the sake of the country, the bloodshed and destruction." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND TRAFFIC IN STREET
- Embargoed: 4th December 2016 16:15
- Keywords: Sanaa Yemen ceasefire conflict warfare truce
- Location: SANAA, YEMEN
- City: SANAA, YEMEN
- Country: Yemen
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA001593ZK93
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Local residents in Sanaa were divided over the success of a 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen on Saturday (November 19).
A truce aimed at ending more than a year of war in Yemen began on Saturday, although residents said fighting was still going on in parts of the country.
"We hope for a ceasefire and calm and that Saudis will commit to the truce and [stop] their air strikes. How was it that a ceasefire was announced on Thursday, November 17, but the air strikes are still ongoing?" asked Sanaa resident, Waleed Ahmed.
Others were more positive about what the ceasefire might mean for a potential peace process.
"We are optimistic that the war will end, God willing, and we ask politicians to continue [working on a] fundamental end solution for this difficult problem that's facing Yemenis, and hopefully we will overcome this crisis," said Wesam Hussein, another local resident.
Ghazy Aly Ahmed, who owns a small shop in the capital, was less than hopeful.
"I'm not optimistic about this ceasefire at all. We've had more than one ceasefire that have failed and there were many violations. This ceasefire will not hold. I'm sure that there will be no commitment from either side, and when there's a ceasefire, every side prepares their soldiers to go back to war," he said.
Another resident, Abdu Al-Habashy, added: "We want political parties to help stop the bloodshed and stop everything for the sake of the country, the bloodshed and destruction."
The 48-hour ceasefire by the Saudi-led military coalition raised hopes of an end to a humanitarian crisis caused by a war that has drawn in regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The truce seemed to be largely holding up despite gun battles in the Western city of Taiz and air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition reported by residents in villages east of the capital Sanaa.
Yemen's Saudi-backed government and its Iran-aligned Houthi adversaries blamed each other for the violence in Taiz where thousands of civilians are trapped and many have been wounded. Government forces this week made advances on Taiz threatening to break a year-long siege by the rebels.
Saudi Arabia and allied Sunni Muslim Gulf states began a military campaign in March last year to prevent the Houthis and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the whole country.
The Saudi-led coalition expelled enemy fighters from the southern port city of Aden last summer but the Houthis continue to hold the capital and tracts of the country, with the help of Saleh loyalists.
More than 10,000 Yemenis have been killed in the war. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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