Yemen

Warring factions in Yemen are being urged to extend a UN-mediated truce following reports of deaths and injuries of civilians from sniper attacks and shelling. The truce, which started at the beginning of April, ended more than a month ago, and human rights chief, Volker Türk, says that there is grave and growing concern for the safety and security of civilians.

New uncertainty and “a heightened risk of war” now prevails across Yemen, following the end of a long truce which brought significant dividends, the UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Thursday.

Yemen’s warring parties who have sustained a nationwide truce for the past six months, need to prioritize the “needs and aspirations” of the people, by both extending and expanding it, beyond Sunday’s imminent deadline, the UN chief has said.

President Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi said on Thursday that with the formation in early April of the Presidential Leadership Council as the legitimate representative of the Yemeni people, his country had entered a new era in based on partnership and national consensus.

The salvage of the ageing supertanker FSO Safer, off the Yemeni coast, can now begin, the UN said on Wednesday, after it announced that more than $75 million has been pledged to carry out the vital operation.

Following heavy widespread rains in Yemen, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) remains on high alert as the threat of desert locust emergence looms, the UN agency said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided emergency assistance, in an urgent response to the needs of communities affected by floods in Yemen, the UN agency said on Wednesday.

The Security Council has a joint responsibility to help Yemen take the “necessary and decisive steps towards peace,” the country’s UN Special Envoy told the ambassadors on Monday.

The landmark truce in Yemen, which has been holding since April, has been renewed for an additional two months through 2 October, UN Special Envoy for the country, Hans Grundberg, announced on Tuesday. 

The historic UN-brokered truce in Yemen has largely held for nearly four months, and Special Envoy Hans Grundberg on Thursday urged the Government and Houthi rebels to work towards renewing the “transformational” agreement, which expires on 2 August.