Jemen

The UN says food aid is being diverted by some corrupt and uncooperative officials in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, where millions of people are believed to be on the verge of famine. David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), told the BBC the agency's efforts to reach people in need were being repeatedly blocked.

“Fifteen million children in Yemen are asking you to save their lives” the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the 15 members of the Security Council on Wednesday, in an impassioned plea for action to end four years of fighting which has left at least 7,300 children killed or seriously injured.

The UN team set up to monitor the ceasefire agreement between warring parties in Yemen has formally verified the pullout of armed Ansar Allah, or Houthi forces, from port zones in the country that are crucial to the flow of humanitarian aid, describing cooperation they have received so far as “very good.”

“Human development has not just been interrupted. It has been reversed,” asserted UNDP Yemen Resident Representative, Auke Lootsma. “Even if there were to be peace tomorrow, it could take decades for Yemen to return to pre-conflict levels of development.”

Weapons made in Western countries have been extensively used in Saudi-led combat operations in Yemen, including in civilian areas, according to secret French military documents revealed by a French-led team of investigative journalists on Monday.

(UN Special Envoy) Martin Griffiths said that after a “long and difficult process” agreeing the details of a UN-backed plan, which the warring parties signed up to in Sweden last December to de-escalate fighting around Hudaydah, as the start of a process to hopefully end the fighting nationwide, “both parties have now accepted the detailed redeployment plan for phase one”.

Germany will send a maximum of 10 soldiers and police officers to join a UN observer mission overseeing a ceasefire in Yemen, the government agreed on Wednesday.

Deutschland wird sich an der Beobachtermission der Vereinten Nationen zur Unterstützung der Hodeidah-Vereinbarung beteiligen. Das Bundeskabinett hat beschlossen, Soldaten der Bundeswehr sowie Polizisten als unbewaffnete Beobachter der Mission in den Jemen zu entsenden. … Das Mandat gilt vorerst für sechs Monate bis Mitte Juli. Deutschland wird zunächst einen Soldaten der Bundeswehr in Zivil und unbewaffnet entsenden. Dieser wird als "Chief Assessment" (Leiter Auswertung) die UNMHA-Mission der Vereinten Nationen unterstützen. Grundsätzlich erlaubt der Beschluss die Entsendung von bis zu fünf Soldatinnen und Soldaten sowie fünf Polizistinnen und Polizisten.

Houthi forces denied the United Nations access to a grain storage site in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Tuesday, sources familiar with the matter said, hindering efforts to increase food aid to millions facing severe hunger. Hodeidah is the entry point for most of Yemen's humanitarian aid and commercial imports.

Yemen's warring parties exchanged heavy weapons fire overnight in Hodeidah, residents and military sources said, as the United Nations scrambled to salvage a ceasefire deal in the Yemeni port city that is a lifeline for millions at risk of starvation. The clashes were the heaviest since the ceasefire went into effect on Dec. 18, residents said, and came as the United Nations announced a deal setting out details of a mutual military withdrawal envisaged by the Stockholm truce accord.