Yemen's Hadi rejects UN peace plan amid deadly raids

Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Oct. 29 rejected a U.N. peace proposal for his war-battered country, as air strikes by his Saudi-led coalition allies killed at least 60 rebels, inmates, and civilians. 

The latest peace proposal submitted by U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was rejected by Hadi who even refused to receive it as he met the mediator in Riyadh, AFP reported.

The contents of the roadmap which the envoy already presented to the rebels on Oct. 25 have not been made public.

But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.

Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

A statement on the government's sabanew.net quoted Hadi as saying the roadmap "only opens a door towards more suffering and war and is not a map for peace." 

It cited Hadi as saying the plan "rewards the putschists while punishing the Yemeni people and legitimacy." 
Forces loyal to Hadi's government have been locked since 2014 in deadly battles with Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels who overran the capital Sanaa late that year.

The conflict escalated in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign to push back the rebels.

The war has left nearly 7,000 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations which had been struggling to convince the warring parties to implement a ceasefire and revive a stalled political process.

While the government has shifted its temporary headquarters to second-city Aden, Hadi...