WASHINGTON
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for the fight in Yemen to stop, a plea he made for the first time since Saudi-led airstrikes began in the region against Houthi fighters weeks ago.
"I am calling for an immediate cease-fire in Yemen by all the parties," Ban Ki-moon said at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday. "The Saudis have assured me that they understand that there must be a political process. I call on all Yemenis to participate in good faith," he added.
The secretary-general's comment came a day after the UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, announced his resignation. The veteran Moroccan diplomat was the one who helped broker a 2011 transition plan in Yemen that later unraveled.
Ban Ki-moon said that even before the latest escalation, two out of three Yemenis relied on humanitarian assistance, noting that the need for food and security had been higher than the poorest stretches of Africa.
"Recent fighting has only multiplied the sufferings and security. Hundreds are dead, humanitarian supplies are being blocked and UNICEF has reported that an astounding of one third of fighters are children," he added, using an abbreviation for the United Nations Children's Fund.
Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Sunni Arab allies have been striking Shia Houthi fighters battling to oust U.S.-allied Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in an attempt by the regional heavyweight to check Iranian influence in its backyard.
The Sunni Gulf states resorted to use of force to push the Houthis back to a UN-backed political transition, which was interrupted by the group's seizure of capital Sana'a last September.
Concern over Syria
Ban Ki-moon also expressed his concerns over reports that the Syrian regime had been using chlorine and some other chemical weapons.
He said that the UN Security Council had dispatched experts to investigate the claims. If it was proven that chemicals had been used, he said: "We have to take very decisive action to eliminate all this, this is absolutely unacceptable.
"This is the fifth year Syrian people have been abandoned, killed and displaced and refuged," he added.
In a special plea made on behalf of the Palestinians in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, the top UN official called on all parties to give a way out or let humanitarian aid into the camp.
He said that innocent Palestinians had been caught between the military machine of the Syrian government and brutality of extremist groups such as Daesh. "They have little way out and aid can find little way in, and this offering is largely out of the spotlight," he said.
At least 18,000 people have trapped in the Yarmouk camp, established in 1957 for the Palestinians fleeing Israeli shelling in the occupied Palestinian territories.
