U.N. SCRAMBLES TO AVERT ‘BLOODY’ BATTLE
UN holding intense negotiations with warring factions to prevent assault on lifeline port
on Monday to HE United Nations moYORKbilised avert a “fierce, bloody battle” for a key port in Yemen that provides a lifeline for food, medicine and vital supplies.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Yemen’s foreign minister at the UN headquarters here amid warnings that an attack on rebel-held Hodeida was imminent.
Guterres said his envoy, Martin Griffiths, was locked in “intense negotiations” with Yemen’s rebel Houthis, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to find a “way to avoid the military confrontation in Hodeida”.
During his meeting with Yemen’s new Foreign Minister Khaled Alyemany, Guterres said “everyone should redouble efforts to find a political solution and avoid a fierce, bloody battle for Hodeida”, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The UN pulled all of its international staff out of Hodeida early Monday. For the past two weeks, Yemen government troops backed by the coalition had been closing in on Hodeida, which they claimed was being used by Houthi rebels to smuggle weapons.
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors at Britain’s request after London told aid agencies on the ground that it
Thad received a warning from the United Arab Emirates of an imminent attack.
The UN had warned that up to 250,000 people were at risk if the coalition moved ahead with an all-out offensive to take the Red Sea port.
UN aid chief Mark Lowcock said an attack on Hodeida would be “catastrophic” and that aid agencies were hoping to “stay and deliver” in Yemen, which the UN described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemen relied on imports for 90 per cent of its food, and 70 per cent of the imports transited through Hodeida, Lowcock said after briefing the council.
Griffiths, who briefed the council by video conference from Amman, had revived a year-old plan to turn over Hodeida port to a neutral party, diplomats said.
Following the closed-door council meeting, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who was council president this month, called for de-escalation and said the top UN body would be “closely” following developments.
“We are hoping for the efforts of the special envoy to bring a positive resolution. We left it in his hands for the time being,” Nebenzia said.
The council did not specifically call on the coalition to refrain from attacking Hodeida and diplomats said there had been much discussion over the president’s statement to the press.
Eleven humanitarian aid agencies, including Oxfam and Save the Children, separately urged British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to threaten to cut off British support to the coalition if it attacks Hodeida.
“If an attack does take place, casualties on all sides will be high, with a likely catastrophic impact on the civilian population,” they wrote in a letter to the foreign secretary.