Yemen truce could help reverse humanitarian crisis — UN

By AFP 1 May 2022, 1:07 pm

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File: In this photo taken on August 30, 2019 A fighter of the UAE-trained Security Belt Force, dominated by members of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) which seeks independence for south Yemen, walks with a separatist flag past an oil tanker set ablaze during clashes between the separatists and the Saudi-backed government forces at the Fayush-Alam crossroads on the eastern entrance Aden from the Abyan province in southern Yemen. (Nabil HASAN / AFP)

The United Nations has warned of a “worsening” humanitarian situation in Yemen but says a fragile two-month truce since early April could help reverse the situation.

“The worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen is a reality that we need to urgently address,” UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, says in a statement released late Saturday.

“Over 23 million people — or almost three-quarters of Yemen’s population — now need assistance… an increase of almost three million people from 2021,” he says.

Gressly urges donors to take advantage of a UN-brokered truce that has largely held since April 2.

“The UN-led truce is a vital opportunity for aid agencies to scale up life-saving assistance and to reach more people in acute need quickly, including in areas where access was limited due to armed conflict and insecurity,” he says.

The truce, which can be renewed, has provided the impoverished country with a rare respite from violence.

It has also seen oil tankers begin arriving at the port of Hodeida, potentially easing fuel shortages in Sanaa and elsewhere.

The truce also involved a deal to resume commercial flights out of Sanaa’s airport for the first time in six years, though the inaugural flight planned for late April was postponed indefinitely, with each side blaming the other for holding it up.