The leader of Yemen's northern rebels says he is ready to accept the government's conditions for a cease-fire, including relinquishing control of strategic mountain positions. Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi says in an audio recording posted Saturday on Yemeni Web sites that he is ready to end more than five years of hostilities.

Yemen is under international pressure to end the conflict quickly to free up resources to confront a separate threat from al Qaeda's offshoot in the impoverished nation on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.

Copyright Associated Press, 2010