Yemen Expects a Pause in Fighting for Aid Deliveries

[DaNGeROuS KiLLeR]

UNITED NATIONS — Under mounting pressure from United Nations officials who warn of the risk of an imminent famine, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government said it expected a pause in the fighting to be declared to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid, a government minister said Thursday.

 

Abdullah M. al-Saidi, a former ambassador to the United Nations and now a minister in the Yemeni government in exile, said Thursday in an interview that a temporary halt was likely to be announced as early as Friday.

 

A Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes in late March after the government of Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi was ousted by advancing Houthi rebels.

“I think it’s very likely, but the concern is the Houthis,” Mr. Saidi said. “I think we will see a pause.”

 

But Sana, the Yemeni capital, came under some of the heaviest bombing in weeks from the Saudi-led coalition early on Friday, residents said. The airstrikes, which started shortly after 1 a.m., struck near a mountaintop military base that the coalition has bombed on hundreds of occasions over the last three months; another military storage depot, close to a hospital; and a residential area in the north of the capital. There was no immediate word on casualties.

 

 

The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and his mediator for the Yemen crisis, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, have been calling for a humanitarian truce for the holy month of Ramadan, which began in mid-June.

 

If a pause is agreed to, it will be a small but significant victory in the delicate diplomatic efforts to push Saudi Arabia to let up the airstrikes long enough for food and fuel to be delivered. Four out of five Yemenis are in need of some sort of humanitarian assistance, and on Wednesday, the United Nations officially added the Yemen crisis to its list of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies.

 

Any pause in the fighting is likely to be fragile. The last time there was a truce, the Houthis were accused of exploiting it to reposition themselves. Western allies of Saudi Arabia have been loath to criticize the impact of the Saudi-led military operations, though the United States and Britain have nudged both sides to halt the fighting for the sake of alleviating hunger and disease.

 

A fuel shortage has crimped the supply of electricity and stopped water pumps from functioning. Dengue fever has spread rapidly. Nearly half the provinces are “one step away” from famine, according to the United Nations.