Yemenis face mass famine

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UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28, (Agencies): UN aid chief Mark Lowcock will travel to Yemen this week amid intense diplomacy to end a war that has pushed millions to the brink of famine.

The three-day visit beginning Thursday will allow the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs to see first-hand the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, a UN statement said Wednesday. UN peace envoy Martin Griffiths is hoping to bring the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels to Sweden in the coming days for negotiations on ending the three-year conflict.

At least 8 million people are at risk of starvation in Yemen, but UN aid officials fear four million more will face mass hunger if the fighting continues. Lowcock, who last visited Yemen in October 2017, will hold talks with officials in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa and in government-controlled Aden.

Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday told the UN Security Council that a draft resolution demanding a truce in Yemen should be put on hold until peace talks are held in Sweden in early December.

Britain presented the measure last week as the United Nations stepped up its diplomatic efforts to hold talks on ending the war in Yemen. Griffiths is hoping to bring the Saudi-backed government and the Houthi rebels to Sweden for negotiations that could begin as early as Dec 3, according to UN diplomats.

During UN negotiations on the British- drafted text, the US mission to the United Nations said “it will be important to take into account the results of the imminent talks in Stockholm which will be a key inflection point in the political process,” according to an email message seen by AFP. “We look forward to offering more substantive comments to the draft once we have more information on the outcomes of the upcoming consultations,” said the US mission in the message sent on Tuesday to other council members.

The proposed resolution – the first to be discussed by the council on Yemen since 2015 – would significantly ratchet up pressure on the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis to seek a negotiated settlement. The draft resolution calls for an immediate truce in the port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for humanitarian aid and supplies to Yemen, and sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid. Negotiations on the draft began last week and no vote has been scheduled at the Security Council.

The United States, which has supported the coalition, last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire and threw its weight behind the UN-led effort to hold peace talks. The war has left millions on the brink of starvation and unleashed what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Despite global outrage, US President Donald Trump last week vowed to stick by Saudi Arabia, throwing a spanner in the works at the United Nations during negotiations on the Yemen draft. UN diplomats said they did not expect a vote this week on the measure due to the US reluctance to push the coalition. The draft resolution calls for a large injection of foreign currency into the economy through the central bank to support the collapsing currency and for salaries of civil servants, teachers and health workers to be paid within one month.

A British push for the UN Security Council to take action on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis has slowed because several members, including the United States, are wary of impeding United Nations efforts to convene peace talks, diplomats said.

The 15-member council continues to work on the draft resolution that would enshrine five requests made by Lowcock – one of which was for a truce around facilities on which the aid operation and commercial importers rely – but is undecided on when it should be put it to a vote.

Some members want to wait until after planned peace talks have been held next month, said diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity. While no date has been announced for talks, Griffiths has said he aims to convene the parties before the end of the year in Sweden. Western countries are pressing for a truce and renewed peace efforts to end the more than three-year conflict, which is seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Yemen’s economy is in crisis and three-quarters of its population, or 22 million people, require aid. Some 8.4 million are on the brink of starvation, although the United Nations has warned that will likely rise to 14 million. In a note seen by Reuters, the United States signaled to council members on Tuesday that it was not ready to act on the draft resolution until after the talks had taken place. “We look forward to ongoing discussions throughout this critical period, and will continue to monitor closely both the situation on the ground, and progress towards the talks,” the note said.

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