(VOVworld) - Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Sunday that a new UN peace plan was the "basis for discussion" despite containing "fundamental flaws".

Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi at a meeting in Sanaa, Yemen on 17 December, 2015 (Photo: AFP/ VNA)

In a statement, the rebels said the plan to end the country’s 19-month-old war proposed by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed did not include a “total, permanent ceasefire” or foresee lifting the blockade against areas they control. They said that they would put their suggestions to the UN envoy when he visits Sanaa in the coming days.

The plan has not been made public, but unofficial sources said the plan calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from Sanaa and other cities and hand over heavy weapons to a third party. The exiled Yemeni President Mansour Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president, who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

Earlier, President Mansour Hadi rejected the plan, saying that it was not a peace process.