North Reverses Self, Supports Truce in Yemen

The government in northern Yemen reversed its position Thursday and accepted a U.N. call for a truce in the month-old war against southern secessionists.

It was not clear what caused the government’s change of heart about the U.N. resolution adopted Wednesday. Northern forces appeared to be overpowering the south, and the north had called international attempts to win a truce a “flagrant interference” in Yemen’s internal affairs.

The announcement of the government’s new position coincided with reports that northern troops had come within 10 miles of Aden, the stronghold of the southern secessionists.

Tribal, conservative North Yemen and socialist South Yemen merged into a single state in May, 1990. The union was popular but beset by cultural and ideological differences and a power struggle between President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a northerner, and Vice President Ali Salim Bidh, a southerner.

“The government is ready to respond to the resolution in a positive spirit. This will lead to full implementation of the resolution by all concerned,” the government in the northern capital, Sana, said in a statement read on Sana Television.

The resolution, backed by the southern forces, called for an immediate cease-fire, an arms embargo of the warring parties and the dispatch of a U.N. fact-finding mission to Yemen.

Earlier Thursday, northern forces fired a missile on Aden in their drive to capture the city and crush the southern secession. The missile exploded over Aden after southern forces shot at it, and there were no casualties.

The north had rejected any suggestion of outside mediation, and before accepting the truce call, said it would only touch off further fighting. The south has called for the Arab League to oversee negotiations, but has not suggested a willingness to reunify.