Yemen rebels name governing body, in blow to talks

Sanaa - The announcement came as the United Nations prepared to suspend peace talks in Kuwait.

Yemen's rebel Houthis and forces loyal to their ally, former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, on Saturday appointed a council to govern Yemen, in a new blow to UN-led peace talks. 
The announcement came as the United Nations prepared to suspend peace talks in Kuwait. 
The rebels announced the creation of the council on July 28, shortly before rejecting a UN peace plan because it did not meet their key demand for a unity government. 
That condition amounts to an explicit call for the removal of the internationally recognised president, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. 
The Iran-backed Houthis overran the capital in late 2014 before moving into other parts of Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March last year. 
The United Nations says more than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since then, mostly civilians. 
The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes and left more than 80 percent of the population in need of humanitarian aid. 
Hadi's government, which accepted the UN peace plan, has denounced the creation of the council. 
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said it would damage the talks and represented a "grave breach" of UN Security Council Resolution 2216. 
The governing council includes 10 members, equally divided between Houthi and Saleh loyalists, according to a list published by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. 
Among them is Salah Al Sammad, head of the Houthis' political wing Ansarullah, and Sadek Abu Ras, deputy head of Saleh's party, the General People's Congress. 
Ould Cheikh Ahmed is expected to announce the suspension of the talks on Saturday in Kuwait City, in the presence of rebel and government delegations. 
The UN envoy told Kuwaiti TV this week that he hopes to relaunch talks in the future, however. 
The Yemeni government had been ready to accept the UN plan, but its delegation left Kuwait on Monday until the rebels agree to the proposed accord. 
The draft plan called on the rebels to withdraw from territories they had occupied and give up heavy weapons they had seized from the army. 
The two sides would also exchange prisoners before the launch of political negotiations. 
The plan was presented as the UN's final proposal to resolve the 16-month conflict. 
Despite heavy bombing by the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis still control the capital and much of northern Yemen.

• MENA