BFF-38 UN envoy in Yemen to push for peace talks as famine stalks

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YEMEN-CONFLICT

UN envoy in Yemen to push for peace talks as famine stalks

SANAA, Nov 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The UN Yemen envoy flew into rebel-held
capital Sanaa Wednesday to push for fresh peace talks, as fighting for the
lifeline port of Hodeida has ramped up fears of widespread famine.

Under heavy Western pressure, the government and its Saudi-led military
backers have largely suspended a five-month-old offensive on the Red Sea port
city as UN envoy Martin Griffiths makes the biggest peace push in two years.

But Hodeida residents reported clashes just hours ahead of Griffiths’
arrival and a devastating all-out assault still threatens as the coalition
eyes a key victory in its war with Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation if the
port of Hodeida is closed by fighting or damage.

The city is virtually the sole gateway to the capital and rebel-held
territory, and some 80 percent of commercial food imports and virtually all
UN-supervised humanitarian aid pass through its docks.

Griffiths — who has said he wants Yemen’s rivals to meet within weeks in
Sweden — did not comment to reporters on his arrival at Sanaa airport.

He was expected to hold talks with rebel political leaders as he attempts
to revive a peace process that collapsed in acrimony in Switzerland in
September when the rebels failed to show up.

The Huthis have said repeatedly that they need stronger security guarantees
from the international community that they will be given safe passage through
the crippling air and sea blockade the coalition has enforced since March
2015.

– ‘Sternest test’ –

The international community is demanding in return that the rebels halt all
offensive operations, particularly missile attacks on neighbouring Saudi
Arabia, and commit to joining talks on handing over of the port of Hodeida to
UN control.

“Griffiths faces the sternest test of his young tenure,” said Brussels-
based think tank International Crisis Group.

“If his mediation efforts succeed in preventing a destructive battle for
Hodeida, he could build momentum toward reviving a peace process.”

Both warring sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy’s
mission to convene new talks, but fierce clashes flared again in Hodeida late
Tuesday.

Residents in the east of Hodeida told AFP by telephone they could hear
fighting, and reported shrapnel falling in residential neighbourhoods.

Locals said there was a limited number of people leaving the city, but some
families have decided to flee in the past few weeks.

Mohammed Rashed, who is currently living in a make-shift tent to the east
of the Sanaa, said he left Hodeida last week because of the clashes.

“We could not stay because of the air strikes,” he told AFP.

“My house was struck, and my neighbours’ homes were struck and people were
killed.”

– Call for truce –

On Monday, Britain presented to the UN Security Council a draft resolution
urging an immediate truce in Hodeida and setting a two-week deadline for the
warring sides to remove barriers to humanitarian aid.

The proposed resolution would significantly ratchet up pressure on the
Saudi-led coalition and the rebels to seek a negotiated settlement.

The rebels overran Sanaa in late 2014, when they also took control of
Hodeida and its port.

A year later, the coalition intervened as President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi
fled into Saudi exile.

Both parties in the conflict stand accused of acts that could amount to war
crimes.

Although Western governments have condemned civilian deaths in Yemen, they
remain political and military backers of Saudi Arabia, which is a regional
ally and spends billions of dollars on arms from the United States, Britain,
and France.

They have come under increased domestic political pressure to temper their
arms deliveries since the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul last month.

The World Health Organization says nearly 10,000 people — mostly civilians
— have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led intervention began, but
human rights groups believe the toll may be five times higher.

Save the Children said on Wednesday that some 85,000 infants under the age
of five may have died of severe malnutrition or related diseases between
March 2015 and this October based on UN agency figures.

BSS/AFP/MRI/2007 hrs