Stop fighting UN urges Yemen sides
GENEVA: United Nations Secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres yesterday urged the warring sides in Yemen to reach a political settlement to end a fouryearold conflict that has left 22 million people in urgent need of aid.
Yemeni Foreign Minister AbdelMalek alMekhlafi echoed the call for a return to the negotiating table and said that his internationallyrecognised government was working to open ports and airports to humanitarian aid.
The UN conference, which is seeking pledges towards a $3 billion funding appeal to address the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, takes place a day after an airstrike by the Saudiled coalition fighting in Yemen killed 12 civilians in the coastal city of Hodeidah and the Houthi rebels later targeted Saudi Arabia’s southern border area with a missile.
‘‘A negotiated political settlement through inclusive intraYemeni dialogue is the only solution. I urge all parties to engage with my new Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, without delay,’’ Guterres told the oneday conference.
‘‘All ports must remain open to humanitarian and commercial cargo, the medicines, food and the fuel needed to deliver them. Sanaa airport is also a lifeline that must be kept open,’’ he said.
The war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than 2 million and driven the country — already the poorest on the Arabian Peninsula — to the verge of famine. Hodeidah is Yemen’s biggest port where most of the humanitarian aid enters. The Government accuses Houthis of smuggling weapons through it.
Mekhlafi said: ‘‘We need to find the ideal solution which is a return to the talks table, to put an end the war.’’When the Houthis fired missiles at Riyadh last November, the Westernbacked coalition responded by shutting Yemen’s airports and ports. The UN said that blockade raised the danger of mass starvation and it was partially lifted.
Norwegian Refugee Council secretarygeneral Jan Egeland said: ‘‘ . . . we also ask Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran — who are supporting opposing sides — and for that matter, the UK, the US, who are earning enormous sums of money on arms sales to this conflict to push the parties to the table.’’