New peace talks are under way between the Yemeni authorities and Zaidi gunmen to try to contain renewed clashes that have left at least 52 people dead since Friday, the Zaidis said on Monday. "We met in Saada on Sunday in the presence of the Qatari mediators," the Zaidis' chief negotiator Saleh Habra told AFP.
"A new meeting is planned for this afternoon with a view to calming the situation and resolving the crisis."
A further 19 Zaidi gunmen were killed in clashes with the army in Saada province on Sunday, raising the weekend death toll to 52, a local official said. The clashes were sparked by an army offensive to recapture Dafaa military camp which has been in rebel hands for the past three months, the official conveyed.
In a French radio interview, Zaidi leader Abdul Malak al-Huthi blamed the army for the bloodshed. "The renewed tension is because of the repeated aggressions of the army... which is using tanks and other weapons... in unjustified operations," Huthi told RMC Middle East.
The Zaidis have been fighting to restore a Zaidi imamate, which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup in Yemen.
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