UN pleads for Yemen truce after flare-up

The warring sides in Yemen should negotiate a cease-fire and ease the people’s suffering, a UN official has urged in response to a fresh round of clashes in the country’s oil-rich Marib Province.

Observers of Yemen’s conflict have also spoken in support of a truce, adding to efforts to bring a political solution to years of conflict.

Abhijit Guha, the head of the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement, said over the weekend that it was vital that parties to the conflict resume dialogue, silence the guns and look for a political solution in order to secure the future of Yemenis.

Guha told Riyadh-based daily Arab News that both the Yemeni government and the Houthi group should implement the Hodeidah Agreement, part of an agreement reached in December 2018 that also includes an arrangement for a prisoner exchange.

Fighting has intensified between the government’s army and the militia, with a Yemeni military source saying it covered the western districts of Medghal, Sirwah, Jabal Murad and Rahabah.

The army-backed, Saudi-led coalition had reportedly repelled the attacks, killing dozens of the attackers, including someone described as an Iranian military officer reportedly advising the Houthis, Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement that there was no Iranian military adviser in Yemen to be killed by the “invaders’ bombardments”, the Tehran Times reported.

Explosive-laden drone

Saudi Arabian state TV reported that the country’s air defenses intercepted an explosive-laden drone targeting the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait on Thursday. The reports said it was launched by the Houthis.

It marked the first large attack since the Houthis launched a major offensive on Marib in February in an attempt to seize control of the Yemeni government’s last northern stronghold.

On Aug 6, the UN appointed Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg as its new envoy to Yemen. Experts say he may have a shot at restoring peace in the country if he zeroes in on the political crisis rather than the humanitarian aspects. A veteran in Middle East affairs, Grundberg succeeded Briton Martin Griffiths as the fourth envoy named for the conflict.

Abdulghani Al-Iryani, who had worked with the UN in the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary

General for Yemen, hopes Grundberg can bring about change, given his experience as the EU ambassador to the country.

He said Grundberg should also talk to Yemeni parties that have been marginalized.

“The tendency of international approach in the past was to reward warlords by saying that the discussions will only be between all those who are fighting,” said Iryani, who is also a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies in Yemen.

Mehmet Rakipoglu, a research assistant at the Sakarya University Middle East Institute in Turkey, said a difficult task awaits Grundberg considering the UN’s failed prior attempts at encouraging a peaceful solution.

Mohammed Alragawi, a research fellow at the Yemeni think tank the Abaad Studies and Research Center, said a resolution to the conflict will help the humanitarian situation.

“The priorities now for Mr Grundberg are to bring the fighting parties to the negotiation table again,” Alragawi told China Daily.

Civil war in Yemen broke out in 2014 after the Houthis’ seizure of the capital Sanaa, forcing out the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

AHMAD AL-BASHA / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Students gather around a teacher carrying a boy who fainted during a class in Taez, Yemen’s third city, on Sunday. They have been using unfinished buildings as a school.