Yemen’s warring parties agree to renew two-month truce

The Yemeni parties agreed to extend the humanitarian truce for two more months under the same conditions as before under a UN agreement.

“The parties to the conflict have agreed to the UN proposal to renew the current truce in Yemen for an additional two months”, Hans Grundberg, the UN envoy to Yemen, said in a statement.

The extension of the truce takes effect at the end of the current truce period, today 2 June 2022 at 19:00 Yemen time, and the truce was extended under the same terms as the original agreement, which first entered into force on April 2, 2022.

The UN envoy expressed his gratitude to the international community for its support for the implementation and renewal of the truce, particularly thanking Saudi Arabia and Oman, as well as the members of the UN Security Council.

He also reiterated his appreciation to Egypt and Jordan for their support in facilitating the resumption of international commercial flights from Sanaa airport.

Renewing the humanitarian truce “gave the parties a rare glimmer of hope to Yemenis that an end to this devastating conflict is possible”, the UN envoy said.

The UN envoy is scheduled to begin a second round of talks in the next two days between the Yemeni government and Houthi militias to discuss lifting the siege on Taiz and opening roads.

The UN effort culminated in a two-month humanitarian truce (April 2-June 2, 2022) between the Yemeni government and Houthi militias that included de-escalation of violence and humanitarian and economic remedies.

The conflict in Yemen has been raging since 2014 between the Iran-backed Houthis, who control Sana’a and other areas in the north and west of the country, and government forces backed by the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen.

During the truce period, Houthi militias violated the ceasefire hundreds of times, and the agreement was not fully implemented, especially with regard to lifting the Houthi siege of the city of Taiz, but it did succeed in significantly reducing levels of violence.

Millions of Yemenis are at risk of starvation, and thousands, including many in rebel-held areas, are in need of urgent medical treatment not available in the country whose infrastructure has been destroyed.

Around 80% of Yemen’s 30 million people depend on aid to survive.