UN envoy seeks ceasefire, resumption of political process in Yemen

Ceasefire

Amman, April 2, 2020 (dpa/NAN) UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, is holding talks with rival Yemeni parties in a bid to urgently resume the political process and possibly reach a nationwide ceasefire agreement in the impoverished country, his office said on Thursday.

Griffiths “is conducting daily bilateral consultations with the aim of convening virtually the parties together soonest possible’’, according to a statement.

The UN envoy hopes to reach agreements on a nationwide ceasefire, humanitarian and economic measures to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people and the urgent resumption of the political process aimed at comprehensively ending the war.

The consultations also aim to foster joint efforts to counter the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement added.

Yemen, which has been in the grips of a devastating power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-linked Houthi rebels since late 2014, has not officially recorded any cases of the novel coronavirus that causes the potentially fatal COVID-19 respiratory disease.

The conflict has led to displacement, food insecurity and outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria and damaged health-care infrastructure, leaving 75 per cent of the population without access to adequate health care.

Over the weekend, the Houthi rebels said they had carried out a major operation using ballistic missiles and drones against “sensitive targets” in Saudi Arabia, which said its air force had intercepted them.

In retaliation, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis since March 2015, said it carried out airstrikes targeting rebel posts in Sana’a on Monday.

An agreement reached between government and rebel representatives in December 2018, following UN-brokered talks in Sweden, has not been fully implemented. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Abdulfatah Babatunde