Yemen’s warring sides did not reach an agreement on Saturday to lift a blockade by Iran-backed Houthi militias in the country’s third largest city, the UN said after three days of talks in the Jordanian capital.
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The announcement dampened hopes that the blockade of Taiz would be lifted as it was considered as part of a two-month UN ceasefire ending on 1 June. The question of the blocked city is key to extending the nationwide ceasefire.
The UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said he had issued a proposal he described as an “early stage of discussion” for a phased reopening of roads in Taiz and elsewhere, which would focus on aid distribution and support for suffering Yemenis. Will help facilitate movement. , Both delegations are still in Amman.
In a statement, he urged Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthis to end internal discussions and bring “positive results to the Yemeni people” in subsequent talks.
The UN mission did not provide further details on the proposal or when the parties would resume talks.
It is the first nationwide ceasefire in the past six years of Yemen’s civil war, a conflict now in its eighth year. Fighting on the ground, airstrikes and bombings has subsided and the rebels have halted their cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two pillars of the Arab coalition supporting government forces in the war.
Yemen’s conflict erupted in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. The Arab coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.
The conflict, becoming a regional proxy war in recent years, is now one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. More than 150,000 people have died, including more than 150,000 civilians.
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