20mn Yemenis food insecure due to war
Around 20mn Yemenis are food insecure, UN agencies said yesterday, adding the conflict ravaging the impoverished country was the key driver behind rising hunger levels. “As many as 20mn Yemenis are food insecure in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” a joint statement by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the children’s fund Unicef and the World Food Programme (WFP) said.
Yemen’s foreign minister yesterday said the government-controlled city of Aden could be home to the country’s main airport, amid talks to reopen the rebel-held international airport in the capital Sanaa.
“We are ready to reopen Sanaa international airport today...but we have a vision that Aden will be the sovereign airport of Yemen,” Khaled al-Yamani said.
“If the other side accepts... flights could land in Aden and leave to Sanaa, Hodeidah, other airports.”
Yamani spoke on the sidelines of UN-brokered talks in the rural village of Rimbo, where warring Yemeni parties are gathered under the auspices of the UN.
Government representatives, rebel spokesmen and UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths have all said the talks are not intended to reach a political solution to the conflict, which gained renewed attention in the uproar over the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The murder of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul sparked international criticism over Saudi Arabia’s policies in Yemen, where it leads a pro-government military coalition.
Among the issues under discussion in Sweden are potential humanitarian corridors, a prisoner swap, the reopening of the defunct Sanaa international airport, and Hodeidah, the rebel-held port city at the heart of a government offensive.
The Sweden sessions mark the first meeting between the two sides in two years since the last round of talks in 2016 broke down after three months.
While the days leading up to the gathering saw the government and rebels agree on a prisoner swap and the evacuation of wounded insurgents, both parties have publicly traded threats and accusations in Sweden.
After yesterday’s third day of talks, the delegations have yet to meet face to face.
A UN official, however, said, there was a “difference between private and public discourse”.In a statement to the press yesterday, Griffiths said talks had been “serious and constructive”.
Yemen’s capital has been held by Houthi rebels since 2014, when the insurgents drove the government out and seized a string of ports.
The government of AbdRabbu Mansour Hadi has since been based in the southern port city of Aden and has fought to drive back the rebels, supported since 2015 by the military coalition led by Riyadh.
The coalition accuses the Houthis of smuggling arms from Iran through Sanaa as well as Hodeidah, the rebel-held Red Sea city and Yemen’s most valuable port. Iran denies the charge.
Shipments to Hodeidah, including humanitarian aid, have been severely restricted by the coalition.
Houthi fighters are now embedded in residential neighbourhoods to fight off government forces.
The Houthi delegation held firm to its demand that the rebel-held Sanaa airport be reopened, as airport employees rallied in the Yemeni capital in support.
Houthi representative Abdulmalik al-Hajri told reporters his delegation would propose a “comprehensive vision for the opening of Sanaa airport” today.
Sanaa international has been out of operation for years, severely damaged in air raids by the coalition, which controls Yemeni airspace.
A government proposal to allow flights to and from Sanaa was categorically rejected by the rebels on Friday.
Among the conditions set by the government are mandatory transit points in Aden and Sayoun, another government-held city, for aircraft inspections.
Foreign Minister Yamani said a government demand for a full rebel withdrawal from Hodeidah city and port were non-negotiable.
Revenues from the oncelucrative port should go to the Hadi government, he said.
“As concerns the port...We accept that it works under the administration that ran the port in 2014, and we are ready to coordinate with the UN on supervision and the reinforcement of port operations,” said Yamani.
“But the port must remain sovereign, part of the work of the Yemeni transport ministry which is in charge of Yemeni borders and ports.”
The conflict has triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 14mn people now on the brink of famine. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in under four years, according to conservative estimates.