Yemen humanitarian cease-fire in place
The five-day break in fighting is meant to allow deliveries of food and medicine.
SANA, Yemen — A humanitarian cease-fire appeared to begin in Yemen late Tuesday, after six weeks of bombardment by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition opposed to Houthi rebels who control much of the country.
The capital, Sana, was quiet at 11 p.m., the start of the five-day cease-fire. An hour earlier, blasts from airstrikes had been heard in Sana, which has weathered heavy bombardment for days.
Both sides in the bloody conflict have agreed in principle to abide by the truce, which is designed to allow the delivery of food, medical aid and other assistance to the Arab world’s poorest nation. The fighting has left hundreds dead and raised the specter of a humanitarian catastrophe.
It was unclear how long the cease-fire would last in a nation awash in arms and riven by armed factions, some loyal only to local commanders. Nor was it evident whether the pause would lead to broader peace talks to help resolve the crisis.
Another question was how aid would be delivered in a vast, insecure nation that has suffered heavy damage to airports, harbors, bridges and roads. Yemen is largely dependent on imported food and medicine.
The Saudis and their Houthi adversaries have both warned that any breach in the cease-fire could lead to a resumption of hostilities.
A fresh round of Saudiled airstrikes pounded the positions of Houthi rebels in the hours before the proposed cease-fire was to begin. Bombardment hit Sana and other Houthi-controlled areas, including the northern province of Hajja, near the border with Saudi Arabia, where 40 were killed and more than 50 wounded in airstrikes, according to the Saba state news agency.
A separate assault on a market in the town of Zabid in Hudaydah province left 20 dead and at least 40 wounded, according to a security official contacted by phone Tuesday. The town’s hospital had a severe shortage of medical supplies, Saba reported.
Saudi Arabia stepped up its bombing campaign in recent days, leading to large numbers of casualties, according to various reports. Fighting has also raged in a number of provinces and in the heavily contested southern port city of Aden. The armed militias involved in the fighting include Al Qaeda-linked groups.
May 4 to 10 were the deadliest days since fighting began in Yemen in March, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday in a statement. At least 182 civilians were confirmed killed during that period, about half of them women and children, the U.N. said.
Since the Saudi-led bombing campaign began March 26, the U.N. said, at least 828 civilians have been killed and more than 1,500 injured.
Saudi officials said they decided to intervene in Yemen in a bid to stop Houthi advances and restore the government of exiled President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who is in Saudi Arabia. He escaped after the Houthis seized the capital and placed him under house arrest, then fled Aden when the insurgents advanced there.
In the hours before the cease-fire, the new U.N. envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, a Mauritanian, arrived in Sana.
“We are convinced there is no solution to Yemen’s problem except through a dialogue, which must be Yemeni,” the envoy said, according to news agencies.