SANAA: Yemen has handed over to rebels a timetable to implement the government’s cease-fire terms, in an effort to end the conflict in the north of the country, an adviser to the Yemeni president said Saturday.

“The security committee has drawn up a timetable ... and it has been handed over to (rebel leader Abdul Malik) Al-Houthi through mediators,” Abdul Karim Al-Iryani told reporters.

“If he signs it, the war will stop,” he said, adding that committees including rebel representatives would be set up to oversee the implementation of the six truce terms.

The rebels have said they would accept conditions set by Sanaa for a cease-fire that include the removal of rebel checkpoints, withdrawal of forces and clarification of the fate of kidnapped foreigners.

The government says the rebels must also return captured military and civilian equipment, stay out of local politics and end border hostilities with forces of neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Last week Yemen rejected a truce offer from the rebels because they did not promise to end hostilities against Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom was forced to join the war between the rebels and the Yemeni government on Nov. 4, a day after the rebels killed a Saudi border guard and occupied two villages inside Saudi territory. The rebels announced Jan. 25 that they had withdrawn from Saudi land. The Kingdom said they had been driven out.

The Yemeni government’s conflict with the northern rebels started in 2004, but intensified last year. Yemen also faces a secessionist movement in the south and a resurgent Al-Qaeda.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh replaced the governor of Saada province, the site of much of the fighting with the rebels, state media reported Saturday without giving a reason. “A presidential decree issued today appointed Abdullah Taha Hajar governor of Saada province,” the 26sep.net website said. He replaced Hassan Mohammed Mana.

The outgoing governor had publicly criticized the arrest in late January of his brother, Faris Mana, identified as a top Yemeni arms dealer, who had been placed on a “black list” of arms traders issued by the government in October.

Local sources said that the rebels last month stole weapons from arms depots owned by Faris Mana. He did not report the theft until two days later, allowing the rebels to make off with around 20 truckloads of arms. Local councils have named governors in the past two years but the president still has the power to replace them.

The government has since also arrested another suspected arms dealer and his son, accused of supplying arms to the rebels.

Meanwhile a Yemeni court sentenced the rebel leader Houthi’s brother in absentia to 15 years in jail. Yahya Al-Houthi, a parliamentarian who has been based in Germany since leaving Yemen three years ago, was convicted of supporting the rebellion.