US offers former Yemeni president Saleh asylum in Morocco

The US administration has offered deposed Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh asylum in Morocco before the Yemeni talks had commenced in Switzerland.

US President Barack Obama's administration gave Saleh an opportunity to leave Yemen and travel to Morocco as a political refugee under the condition that he would refrain from making public appearances and political activities.

Moroccan daily newspaper al-Massae reported the news about this offer, siting diplomatic sources, who said that the US administration provided the deposed president with guarantees that he would not be targeted if he was to leave Yemen, in a bid to reassure him.

The Egyptian authorities played a role as an intermediary and relayed the American proposition to Saleh, but he refused it and expressed his desire to remain in Yemen.

The US offer comes amidst a fragile truce in Yemen and peace talks among representatives from the internationally recognised Yemeni government and Houthi rebels.

The Houthi delegation walked out of the talks on Friday in protest over breaches of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides. They demanded the UN to condemn these breaches they said forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi committed.

The Saudi-led coalition and the Yemeni government also accused the Houthis of breaking the ceasefire almost immediately after the truce was announced.

Forces loyal to Saleh along with Houthi rebels have been fighting a civil war against government loyalists backed by airstrikes and ground forces from a mainly Gulf Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

Around 370 Houthi and 285 pro-government fighters held captive by the rival forces were exchanged at Yafaa in Lahij province, central Yemen on Thursday.

More than 5,800 people have been killed in the country - about half of them civilians - and more than 27,000 were wounded since March, according to the UN.