Cairo ( Associated Press) – An international charity urged Yemen’s warring sides on Tuesday to extend a two-month ceasefireCalled upon the parties in the struggle to work together to avoid “catastrophic hunger” in the war-torn country.
Oxfam said the UN ceasefire was necessary for the millions of Yemenis suffering from lack of basic services and rising prices of food and other goods. The Yemen director of the charity, Ferran Puig, said the ceasefire “brought a long overdue sense of hope that we can break the cycle of violence and suffering in Yemen.”
“If we are to avoid the risk of millions of Yemenis being forced into intense hunger, the opportunity to extend the ceasefire and push for lasting peace must be seized,” Puig said. The ceasefire, which came into force on April 2, ends on Wednesday night.
Later on Tuesday, more than three dozen aid groups operating in Yemen joined Oxfam’s appeal, saying in a joint statement addressed to the warring sides that “the gift of a better life for the people of Yemen is in your hands.” ”
It is the first nationwide ceasefire in the past six years of Yemen’s civil war, a conflict now in its eighth year. Fighting began in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels descended from its northern enclave and captured the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.
In recent weeks, the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has stepped up efforts to renew the ceasefire., He tweeted on Monday that an extension was “important to consolidate the gains so far made and to provide room to move toward a political settlement.”
However, Grundberg’s efforts have been halted by the Houthis’ refusal to lift their land blockade of the government-occupied city of Taiz.Yemen’s third largest.
The ceasefire provisions included reopening roads around Taiz, establishing two commercial flights a week between Sanaa and Jordan and Egypt, and allowing 18 ships to carry fuel in the port of Hodeida. The rebels control both Sanaa and Hodeida.
Fighting, airstrikes and bombings have subsided during the ceasefire, which began in early April, and rebels ceased their cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two pillars of the Saudi-led coalition Huh.
More than 150,000 people, including more than 150,000 civilians, have died in Yemen’s war. This has now led to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
The United Nations has warned that 19 million people out of Yemen’s population of 32 million will face hunger in 2022Including 160,000 likely to suffer from “famine-like conditions”.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year This has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as it affected the global food supply and pushed up food prices. Oxfam said Yemen imports 90% of its food, which includes more than 42% of wheat from Ukraine.
