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Al-Ahed Telegram

Yemen Humanitarian Truce Reached

Yemen Humanitarian Truce Reached
folder_openYemen access_time8 years ago
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Local Editor

The United Nations on Thursday announced an "unconditional humanitarian pause" in Yemen's conflict starting at midnight local time Friday, with the goal of stopping the violence so that desperately needed supplies can be delivered to more than 21 million people in the Arab world's poorest country.

Yemen Humanitarian Truce Reached

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was assured that all sides support halting fighting through the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends July 17, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"We have the expressions necessary from all parties to announce the start of this pause on Friday, July 10," Dujarric said.

More than 3,000 people have been martyred since March, when the US-backed Saudi coalition began launching airstrikes against Yemen.

Reports of airstrikes continued late Thursday in several provinces, while the Revolutionary forces said they fired missiles at Saudi border areas.

The coalition also has imposed a near-complete air and sea blockade in Yemen.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the second-in-command of Ansarullah group who heads the powerful Revolutionary Council, welcomed the truce, saying he hoped it would translate into the lifting of the blockade. "We hope this truce is the beginning of the end of the Saudi aggression," he said in a statement.

The United Nations declared its highest-level humanitarian emergency in Yemen on July 1, days after the UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said the country is "one step" from famine.

According to the UN humanitarian office, 80 percent of the population needs aid, and millions are close to famine.
Dujarric said humanitarian agencies must be given unhindered access to all parts of the country.

The spokesman also said Ahmed, the UN envoy, is continuing to engage with all parties "to take confidence-building steps towards a durable cease-fire."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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