UN’s Yemen Envoy Urges Both Parties to Quit Hudaydah

Envoy Martin Griffiths acknowledged that proposed timelines on a pullout from the port, the main entry point for Yemen’s commercial and aid imports, had slipped while the country stood on the brink of famine.

“The initial timelines were rather ambitious,” he said in comments posted on Twitter, according to Reuters.

“We are dealing with a complex situation on the ground.”

The aid agencies, meeting in London, said people were struggling to feed their children in what had become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

But more aid was not the only solution to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people, said Isabelle Moussard Carlsen of Action Against Hunger.

“I think we need to be very clear that we need a political solution to this conflict,” she said.

Agreements reached in December between Houthis and the Saudi-backed fugitive former president Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi were the first significant breakthrough in four years of conflict which has killed tens of thousands of people through military actions or other causes.

But little further progress has been made, risking the unraveling of the peace efforts.

Although fighting has escalated in other parts of Yemen, Griffiths said he remained optimistic.

“More than any time in the past, there is a political will demonstrated by all parties to put an end to this conflict,” he said. “What we need to see now is the implementation of the provisions of the agreement, fully and rapidly.”