Extension of Yemen Truce – Grundberg requests Security Council support
The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has called for the support of the Security Council to extend the humanitarian truce, stressing that this should be discussed with the various parties.
Grundberg was speaking to reporters after briefing the UN Security Council, which held closed consultations on Yemen on Tuesday, on the chances of extending the humanitarian truce and the parties’ implementation of their obligations to build on it to launch an inclusive political process.
The UN mediator stressed his efforts to address the main challenges and extend the truce in Yemen, noting that he discussed this issue with various Yemeni parties, including the Houthi militias supported by Iran.
Yemen’s truce could be extended if all sides agreed, Grundberg said, noting the urgent need for Houthi militias to make concessions to extend the humanitarian truce.
He added: “I hope that we can reach an extension of the truce, but that depends on the discussions we are having”, he said, appealing to the Security Council to support an extension of the truce in Yemen.
He noted that the UN truce was holding and hostilities had been reduced and that he was continuing to work to launch an inclusive process towards a political settlement.
Fuel tankers and shipments continue to flow through Hodeida port, he said, and commercial flights have returned to Sanaa airport, a positive sign, but we are still trying to hold meetings with the parties to open roads around Taiz and other areas.
The international mediator confirmed that trust between the Yemeni parties requires persistent UN action and that he felt the positive effects of the truce on the Yemenis. He cautioned that he had received reports of violations of the truce since the first day and that his efforts focused on easing these escalations, especially around the city of Marib.
Grundberg thanked Saudi Arabia and its Presidential Command Council and President Rashad al-Alimi for their constructive cooperation with UN initiatives.
Earlier on Monday, the first Yemeni plane departed from Sanaa International Airport for the first time in six years to Queen Alia Airport in the Jordanian capital of Amman under the humanitarian truce.
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However, Houthi militias have continued to violate the ceasefire resolution, fabricate excuses to evade their obligations to lift the siege on Taiz, and channel oil derivative revenues to pay state employees’ salaries without concern for the humanitarian situation.
The UN efforts over the past months culminated in a two-month humanitarian truce (April 2-June 2, 2022) that included de-escalation of violence and humanitarian and economic treatment, including the siege of Taiz, which Houthi refuses to lift.
