$500m for Yemen
SAUDI ARABIA RESPONDS WITH STRIKES AFTER MILITIA FIRES MISSILES INTO KINGDOM
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have pledged $500 million in aid to assist millions of Yemenis at risk of starvation.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths was preparing, meanwhile, to head to Yemen to lay the groundwork for peace talks in Sweden.
Yemeni officials and witnesses say fighting between Saudi-led coalition forces and Iran-backed Al Houthis has flared up again around the Red Sea port city of Hodeida despite UN calls for a ceasefire.
They say coalition air strikes hit militants in and around Hodeida late Monday in response to ballistic missiles fired into Saudi Arabia the previous night.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorised to talk to reporters; the witnesses did so for fear of their safety.
The renewed fighting comes as a proposed UN resolution circulated Monday urges Yemen’s warring parties to relaunch negotiations to end the threeyear conflict and take urgent steps to tackle the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, which has pushed the country to the brink of famine.
The Security Council resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, also calls on Yemen’s internationally recognised government and Iran-backed Al Houthi militia to agree to a ceasefire around the key port of Hodeida.
Yemenis are completely reliant on commercial and humanitarian supplies of food, water, fuel, medicine and other essential supplies, and over 70 per cent of those are shipped through rebel-held Hodeida.
The government accuses the militant group of hijacking critical aid and using the port to smuggle in weapons from Iran.
Its surrounding area has been the scene of recent attacks and air strikes, though fighting has eased in recent days.
The British-drafted resolution also calls on the parties “to cease all attacks on densely populated civilian areas across ■ Yemen” and to halt missile and drone attacks “against regional countries and maritime areas.”
The negotiations on the draft were scheduled for yesterday.
Problems with draft
Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Al Otaibi, the Arab representative on the Security Council, told reporters he had “problems” with the draft resolution and hoped they were addressed before a vote.
UN special envoy Martin Griffiths said he is determined to take advantage of “the international attention and energy” to move toward peace.
The draft resolution expresses “unqualified support” for efforts by Griffiths, who told the Security Council on Friday that Al Houthis and the Saudi-backed government have agreed to attend talks “soon” in Sweden.
The draft resolution condemns the targeting of civilians and civilian buildings, and drone and missile attacks by Al Houthis against Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It also expresses concern at reports of civilians being used as human shields.
It welcomes the coalition’s recent de-escalation in Hodeida and calls on Al Houthis “to respond in kind in order to allow urgent deliveries of assistance and flows of life-saving commercial imports.
Humanitarian appeal
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned the council on October 23 that Yemen’s economic crisis and escalating conflict had pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation closer to famine than ever before, and on Friday he again urged its members to take action now.
Lowcock said the Security Council should urge the parties to negotiate an end to the conflict and the international community to boost aid. He also called for a humanitarian ceasefire around key aid facilities, delivery of imports to all Yemeni ports and onward to their final destinations, and funding to pay Yemeni pensioners and civil servants.
David Beasley, head of the UN World Food Programme, visited Yemen last week and told the Security Council that as many as 12 million of 28 million Yemenis “are just one step away from famine.”
To avert that, Beasley said, the international community must combine increased humanitarian funding with “an all-out effort to restore the Yemeni economy,” which has collapsed.