A southern prominent opposition figure living abroad was reported to have mediated a truce between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebels after the first was brought into a six-year conflict between the Yemeni army and the insurgents months ago, diplomat sources told the News Yemen.
Hidar Abu Bakr Al-Attas, former prime minister of the republic of Yemen who fled after the 1994 civil war between the north and south, was the mediator, according to the sources that asked not to be named.
The sources also said the truce was reached in Germany by Saudi ambassador in Berlin and the brother of the rebel leader who was killed in 2004 Yahya Al-Houthi, currently living in Germany.
Days after the truce, the current rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi announced an initiative to withdraw from Saudi regions and ceasefire with the Saudi army.
Al-Houthi, furthermore, announced their acceptance to the ceasefire terms announced by the Yemeni government.
Al-Attas has good ties with Saudis since he arrived in the kingdom from exile after the separation war in 1994.