UN Yemen envoy to make talks framework within 2 months

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The UN's envoy for Yemen told the Security Council Tuesday that within two months he will draft a framework for talks aimed at ending the country's ongoing civil war.

"The war has, if anything, become louder and more pressing these last few weeks," Martin Griffiths said, pointing to Houthi missile launches at Saudi Arabia and military operations in the Sa'ada governorate as "the most prominent and detrimental developments."

"We also hear unconfirmed reports that movements of forces in Yemen are on the increase and that the terrible prospect of intensive military operations in al-Hodeidah, long heralded, may be soon forthcoming," he said. "The people of Yemen are in desperate need of signs that this war will soon end."

Yemen has been wracked by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies -- who accuse the Houthis of serving as an Iranian proxy force -- launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

UN-sponsored peace talks held in Kuwait City the following year failed to end the conflict, which has worsened an already dire humanitarian situation in the Arab world's poorest country.

Mark Lowcock, the UN's humanitarian chief, warned that unless additional steps are taken, Yemen faces the prospects of "another major" cholera outbreak after more than a million people fell ill last year.

"We are doing everything we can to respond," he said, warning that the prospects of another major outbreak are on the rise as Yemen enters its rainy season.

Over 2,200 people died last year of the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

Last year's cholera epidemic in Yemen was the largest and fastest-spreading outbreak of the disease in modern history.

*Betul Yuruk contributed to this report from the United Nations in New York