22 May 2017•Update: 23 May 2017
SANAA, Yemen
UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Monday arrived in Yemeni capital Sanaa in hopes of reviving stalled peace talks and concluding a pre-Ramadan truce.
Ahmed on Monday is due to meet with representatives of the Shia Houthi militia group and allied forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In Sanaa, the envoy will promote a modified version of a UN-backed roadmap that calls for a Houthi withdrawal from the strategic Hudeidah province in exchange for a halt to aggression by an anti-Houthi coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
“I came here to Sanaa to tackle three issues," he told reporters at Sanaa airport.
"The first is to avoid a military operation in the Port of Hudeidah in the west of the country,” he said, voicing hope that a cease-fire might be hammered out before the upcoming fasting month of Ramadan, set to begin later this month.
"The second thing I will focus on is the humanitarian issue, as the cholera epidemic [in Yemen] is worsening and suspected cases now stand at more than 25,000,” he said.
Within the past three weeks, more than 240 people have died of cholera in war-ravaged Yemen, the World Health Organization announced on Friday.
"The third issue has to do with the economic dimension, which concerns recent salary shortfalls for state employees and the crisis affecting central bank," Ahmed said, asserting that the bank should remain independent and salaries should be paid to all Yemenis.
A group of pro-Houthi demonstrators threw empty cans at Ahmed’s convoy as it departed Sanaa airport, accusing him of failing to lift the ongoing siege of the airport.
Since August 9 of last year, the Saudi-led coalition has continued to impose an air embargo on the Houthi-run airport.
Earlier Monday, Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Salam described the Houthis’ continued meetings with UN representatives as "absurd".
Abdel-Salam accused the world body of "failing to fulfill its moral and humanitarian obligations or hold the aggressor responsible for what he has done -- and continues to do -- against the Yemeni people” in a reference to the Saudi-led coalition.
"Our long experience with the UN has proven that they are incapable of doing anything,” he said. “They only act if they are pressured to do so by the aggressors with a view to showing that there is a political process.”
Anadolu Agency has yet to obtain comment from Yemen’s Saudi-backed government regarding Ahmed’s visit.
Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s pro-Saudi government.
According to UN officials, more than 10,000 Yemenis have been killed in the conflict to date, while more than 11 percent of the country’s total population have been displaced as a direct result of the fighting.
Reporting by Zakaria al-Kamali; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg
