UN urges parties in Yemen to ‘heed calls for truce extension’

By Ekrem Biceroglu

ADEN, Yemen (AA) – The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen urged the country’s warring parties Tuesday “to commit to extending and expanding the truce.”

“I strongly urge the parties to the conflict to heed calls by the UN Secretary-General and his Special Envoy for Yemen for truce extension and expansion to build on the gains achieved over the last six months,” David Gressly said in a statement.

“The people of Yemen need peace. Without it, the drivers of the humanitarian crisis would persist, and people would continue to suffer,” Gressly added.

“The truce, which first came into effect on 2 April 2022, improved humanitarian access to people in need living in previously hard-to-reach areas, enhanced people’s access to services and encouraged the return of internally displaced people to their original communities in areas near the frontlines,” he said.

Noting that the truce has also improved the flow of fuel into Yemen’s Red Sea ports and led to the opening of Sana’a airport to commercial flights, he said some 26,642 people have been able to travel on commercial flights from the capital Sana’a, many of whom were critically ill and seeking medical treatment abroad.

According to Gressly, the six months since the truce’s announcement witnessed the monthly rate of people displaced internally decrease by 76%.

“During the same period, the number of civilians killed or injured by fighting shrank by 54%.”

On Sunday, the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, expressed regret that an agreement had not been reached to extend the truce.

In April, Yemen’s warring parties agreed to a two-month UN-brokered truce under which all military operations were halted. The truce agreement was extended twice.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including Sana’a.