SANA’A (Arab News/MEMO) – The UN-brokered truce between Yemen’s warring factions is “broadly holding” but still in danger of collapsing amid intense fighting in Marib and Shabwa, the organization’s envoy says.
On the first anniversary of the deal, Hans Grundberg said that the Sana’a-based government and Saudi-, and UAE-backed mercenaries in the south had mostly stuck to its terms. He warned however that the current rise in hostilities might lead to it unraveling.
“Even after its expiration, the truce is broadly holding and many of its elements continue to be implemented. But the truce’s most significant promise is its potential to jumpstart an inclusive political process aimed at comprehensively and sustainably ending the conflict,” Grundberg said.
The UN-brokered truce marks the longest pause of hostilities in Yemen’s nine-year war. It has led to a considerable decline in civilian deaths and internal displacement.
Under the truce, the parties agreed to end hostilities, permit commercial flights from Sana’a airport, assist the arrival of fuel ships at Hudaydah port and work together to unblock highways in Taiz and other Yemeni towns.
Grundberg warned that the military, economic and verbal escalation posed a danger to the truce. He said that his office was working to transform it into a more inclusive and long-lasting political process.
“There is a need to protect the gains of the truce and to build on them towards more humanitarian relief, a nationwide ceasefire, and a sustainable political settlement that meets the aspirations of Yemeni women and men,” he said.
A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia started a war on Yemen in March 2015 in order to return the country’s former Riyadh-friendly government to power. Although the coalition has failed to achieve any of its goal, the war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire country into the scene of what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the U.S., which has been helping the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen, claims it supports all efforts aimed at a comprehensive solution to the Yemeni war.
U.S. President Joe Biden made the claim on Sunday in a statement published by the White House on the occasion of the first anniversary of the truce in Yemen.