{"id":11700,"date":"2023-01-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/yemen-lull-in-major-fighting-provides-space-for-dialogue\/"},"modified":"2023-01-16T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T12:00:00","slug":"yemen-lull-in-major-fighting-provides-space-for-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=11700","title":{"rendered":"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Special Envoy Hans Grundberg reported on his ongoing mediation efforts with the Government and Houthi rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, following their failure last October to extend a landmark truce that lasted six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regional and international efforts towards ending their eight-year war have also intensified, pointing to \u201ca potential step-change\u201d in the trajectory of the conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYemen needs an agreement that includes a shared vision for the way forward, in order to avoid a return to full-blown conflict. I therefore urge the parties to make the most of the space for dialogue provided by the absence of large-scale fighting,\u201d he said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

No major escalation\u00a0<\/h2>\n

The overall situation on the ground in Yemen has remained stable, with no major escalation or changes in the disposition of frontlines, Mr. Grundberg told ambassadors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, some limited military activity continues along frontlines, particularly in five governorates – Ma\u2019rib, Taiz, Dali\u2019, Hodeidah, and Lahj – as well as along the border with Saudi Arabia, which has resulted in civilian casualties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warning against the possibility of renewed violence, he urged the parties \u201cto actively work to extend the longest period of relative quiet<\/strong> we have seen in the past eight years, which offers a much-needed reprieve for the Yemeni population.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A holistic approach\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Turning to his mediation efforts, the UN envoy said he has been in continued contact with the two sides and countries in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Discussions have focused on options to secure agreement on military de-escalation, as well as measures\u202fto prevent further economic deterioration, and mitigating the conflict\u2019s impact on civilians. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Grundberg cautioned against \u201cshort-term measures and a piecemeal approach that focuses on individual issues\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, he has been engaging around a more holistic vision and ensuring the parties move towards a more comprehensive settlement, which includes resumption of a political process as well as a nationwide ceasefire. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

In Yemen, people are dying of treatable ailments because basic medical services are no longer available. (file)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Regional support \u2018crucial\u2019\u00a0<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe are currently seeing an intensification of regional and international diplomatic activity<\/strong> to resolve the conflict in Yemen, and I would like to reiterate my appreciation for the efforts of Saudi Arabia and Oman in this regard,\u201d said Mr. Grundberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this support is crucial in both the negotiation and implementation phases of any agreement, I would also like to stress the importance of Yemeni ownership of the process<\/strong>. Many of the issues on the table, especially those related to sovereignty issues, can only be sustainably resolved through an inclusive, intra-Yemeni dialogue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advice for negotiations\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Although the situation \u201cremains complex and fluid\u201d, Mr. Grundberg said the dialogue efforts have allowed for a clearer definition of the parties\u2019 position and the development of options for mutually acceptable solutions to outstanding issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He stressed that discussions on the short-term way forward must be framed in the context of a more comprehensive approach that delineates a clear pathway towards a sustainable political settlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the issues on the negotiation table cannot be viewed in isolation<\/strong>. There are sequencing challenges as well as concerns around guarantees for all sides, and these need to be addressed,\u201d said the envoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added that while working towards a shared vision for ending the conflict, it is also essential to break it down into concrete, actionable steps in order to avert potential challenges and delays in implementation. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately any set of steps should be geared towards facilitating an inclusive Yemeni-led process under UN auspices<\/strong> for sustainably resolving the conflict,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Unnecessary\u2019 aid impediments\u00a0<\/h2>\n

This year, some 21.6 million Yemenis will need humanitarian assistance and protection services, UN relief chief Martin Griffiths told the Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said \u201cunnecessary and unhelpful access impediments\u201d remain a major obstacle to aid delivery there, and are among the worst in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, humanitarian partners, agencies, reported more than 3,300 access incidents<\/strong>. That\u2019s the equivalent of almost 10 a day. And collectively, these incidents\u2026affected the provision of assistance to more than five million people,\u201d said Mr. Griffiths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"Martin<\/div>\n

Martin Griffiths (on screen), Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefs the Security Council meeting on Yemen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Restrictions affecting women\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Bureaucratic barriers, such as restrictions on humanitarian movements, and delays in approving visas or work permits, were the most frequently reported constraints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Humanitarians also have to cope with attempted interference, which Mr. Griffiths said is \u201cprevalent at every stage in aid delivery\u201d, and is also particularly severe in areas under Houthi control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He expressed concern about the imposition of strict mahram<\/em> requirements, again primarily in areas controlled by the Houthis, which prevent Yemeni women aid workers from travelling without a male guardian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey impede effective programme delivery by forcing delays or even suspensions of critical missions and programmes. And they are increasingly severing our access to Yemen\u2019s most vulnerable people – women and girls,\u201d said Mr. Griffiths. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Appeal for access\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Humanitarian operations have also been hampered by security concerns. Last year, aid agencies reported almost 150 incidents of violence against their personnel, mainly in Government-controlled areas. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo UN staff remain detained in Sana\u2019a after 14 months, and another five are still missing after being kidnapped in Abyan almost a year ago,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Griffiths appealed to the parties to facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, and to ensure aid workers and assets are protected, in line with international humanitarian law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special Envoy Hans Grundberg reported on his ongoing mediation efforts with the Government and Houthi rebels,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east"],"yoast_head":"\nYemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-16T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/16-01-2023_OCHA_Yemen.jpg\/image1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2023-01-16T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/16-01-2023_OCHA_Yemen.jpg\/image1024x768.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=11700"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue","datePublished":"2023-01-16T12:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=11700"},"wordCount":903,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/16-01-2023_OCHA_Yemen.jpg\/image1024x768.jpg","articleSection":["Middle East"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=11700","url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487","name":"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/16-01-2023_OCHA_Yemen.jpg\/image1024x768.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-16T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/16-01-2023_OCHA_Yemen.jpg\/image1024x768.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/16-01-2023_OCHA_Yemen.jpg\/image1024x768.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2023\/01\/1132487#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yemen: Lull in major fighting provides space for dialogue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}