The United Nations has welcomed the decision of the warring parties in Yemen to declare a temporary ceasefire and called on them to participate “unconditionally” in the organization’s peace efforts.
The Saudi-backed coalition backing the Yemeni government and intervening in the country against Shiite Houthi rebels since 2015 has announced a ceasefire from today and for the entire holy month of Ramadan.
“The coalition is hereby announcing the suspension of military operations in Yemen from 06:00 (local time and Greek time) on March 30, 2022,” he said in a statement broadcast Tuesday night by the Saudi news agency SPA.
The ceasefire “coincides with the start of consultations between the Yemenis, with the aim of creating the right conditions for their success and an environment conducive to the holy month of Ramadan in order to achieve peace,” the coalition administration added.
In Muslim countries, Ramadan begins in early April.
Talks are being held in Riyadh from today under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but without the participation of the Houthis who refused to go to “hostile” territory.
“I am grateful for the unanimous support expressed to the UN for the immediate escalation and political settlement of the conflict,” UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg said on Twitter.
The Houthis, after launching 16 attacks against Saudi Arabia on Friday, announced a three-day unilateral ceasefire on Saturday.
The rebels appeared ready for a permanent ceasefire on the condition that Riyadh lift its “blockade” of Yemen, stop airstrikes on the country and withdraw its forces.
The Saudi-led coalition controls Yemen’s airspace and sea, allowing only UN flights to land at Sanaa airport. A situation that the Houthis call “exclusion.”
Exchange of prisoners
Riyadh said yesterday that it expected “serious measures” from the Houthis, especially in the exchange of prisoners, before deciding whether to declare a ceasefire.
Shiite rebels announced on Sunday night an agreement to release 1,400 government detainees in exchange for 823 Houthi detainees, including 16 Saudis, three Sudanese and the brother of Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour.
“An agreement on the exchange of detainees has been signed through the mediation of the United Nations,” Abdelkader al-Murtada, a Houthi spokesman, wrote on Twitter.
Hady Haig, a government official in charge of the matter, also clarified on Twitter that an agreement was “under consideration”.
The last exchange of detainees took place in October 2020 and allowed the release of 1,056 people.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (ICRC) in Yemen, responsible for prisoner exchanges, welcomed the progress of the talks.
“But we also know that negotiations like this during an active conflict are complex and time-consuming,” said ICRC spokesman Bashir Omar.
The Saudi-led coalition has been intervening in Yemen since 2015 to support the government after the Houthis captured the capital Sanaa in 2014.
Rebels control much of northern Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula.
With nearly 380,000 dead, millions displaced and much of the country’s population on the brink of starvation, the war in Yemen has caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, according to the UN.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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