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UN envoy: Warring parties in Yemen agree to meet in Sweden

SHAFAQNA- The U.N. envoy for Yemen announced Friday the country’s internationally recognized government and Houthis have agreed to attend talks aimed at ending their three-year war, which has killed more than 10,000 people and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Martin Griffiths told the U.N. Security Council that he planned to bring the warring parties together “soon” in Sweden. He also said the Houthis and the government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, were about to conclude an agreement on exchanging prisoners and detainees.

The spotlight has fallen on what many viewed as the long forgotten war in Yemen since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Griffiths said he is determined to take advantage of “the international attention and energy” to move toward peace.

“We must seize this positive international momentum on Yemen,” he told the U.N.’s most powerful body. “This is an opportunity at a crucial moment to pursue a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement to the conflict.”

Griffiths said preparatory issues for the meeting are close to being resolved and he has sent the parties his “vision” for “U.N.-led, inclusive Yemeni negotiations to end the war and restart a political transition process.”

The Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan, launched the military campaign in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and eliminate its Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government besides defending the nation against the war, Press TV mentioned.

Saudi-led airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals and wedding parties and killed thousands of Yemeni civilians.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, which has killed over 10,000 people and created what the executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Program said Friday is “a catastrophe.”

David Beasley, who just returned from a three-day visit to Yemen, told the Security Council that “we do not need to wait for formal declarations about famine or even a full report to act.”

“I believe that because of what I saw and heard this week children are already dying,” he said.

Beasley warned that “starvation is on the horizon unless circumstances change — and change immediately.”

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who warned the council on Oct. 23 that the economic crisis and escalating conflict had pushed Yemen closer to famine than ever before, also urged its members to take action now.

In addition to also urging the parties to negotiate an end to the conflict and the international community to boost aid, he called for a humanitarian cease-fire around key aid facilities, delivery of humanitarian and commercial imports to all Yemeni ports and onward to their final destinations, and funding to pay Yemeni pensioners and civil servants.

Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Karen Pierce, said she will circulate a Security Council resolution Monday to address the Yemen crisis and put Lowcock’s requests “into practice” , New York Times reported.

 

Read more from Shafaqna:

At least 149 people, including 7 civilians killed in 24 hours in Hodeidah

UK calls on Saudi to end war in Yemen

Despite Calls For peace, Saudi Arabia Continues Attacks on Yemen

Half of Yemen Population on Brink of Famine as Saudi-Led Aggression Continues

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