The government and the Houthist rebels have agreed to renew for two additional months the truce which ended Thursday evening, despite fears of resumption of fighting.
Le Monde with AFP
Immersed in one of the worst humanitarian dramas in the world, Yemen has nevertheless had two months of relative respite since April 2, the date of the entry into force of a two -month truce torn by the UN, supposed to end on Thursday evening. The Yemeni government and the Houthist rebels have agreed to renew it in extremis for two additional months, despite disagreements and fears about the resumption of fighting, announced the United Nations Thursday, June 2.
The poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula has been devastated for more than seven years by the war opposing the Houthists, rebels close to Iran, and the forces of government, supported by a coalition led by Saudi Saudi Arabia neighbor. In recent weeks, negotiations for the renewal of this truce have trampled due to persistent disagreements between the two parties about its implementation on the ground.
The government and the rebels seemed to camp in their respective positions, despite international pressures, in particular the UN and the United States. The government reproached the rebels in particular for surrounding the big city of Taëz (west), blocking the main roads. The Houthists claimed, for their part, arrangements on the payment of the salaries of civil servants or the basic services in the areas they control.
“I would like to announce that the parties to the conflict have accepted the United Nations proposal to renew the current truce in Yemen for an additional two months,” the UN emissary, Hans Grundberg said on Thursday. “The extension takes effect at the expiration of the current truce, today June 2, 2022 at 7 p.m. Yemen time (6 pm French time),” he said in a press release, adding that It is extended “in the same terms as the initial agreement”. Mr. Grundberg assured that he would continue to discuss with the parties to “implement and consolidate all the elements of the truce in their entirety, and advance towards a sustainable political settlement of the conflict”.
” Concrete positive effects “
In addition to a relatively respected ceasefire, the truce provides for a series of measures to alleviate the suffering of the population, including the reopening of the capital’s airport, Sanaa, to commercial flights, the facilitation of the ‘Fuel supply and the lifting of the seats imposed on certain cities. On Wednesday, the UN announced that it had received “positive” signs as to the renewal of the truce.
The UN emissary had led many consultations in the region to convince the different parties to renew it. Last week, he highlighted the “concrete positive effects” of the truce for around 30 million inhabitants, exhausted by fighting, travel, hunger, diseases, the rarity of drinking water and a collapse of the ‘economy.
The rebels took the capital in 2014, triggering this devastating conflict. Despite the intervention in 2015 of the coalition led by Riyadh, they seized vast sections of the territory, especially in the North West. War made hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced. The UN and humanitarian organizations, which lack funding, regularly warn against large -scale famine in this country largely cut off from the world.