ADEN: Yemen’s warring parties failed to renew a UN-brokered truce deal that expired on Sunday, dashing the hopes of some Yemenis for a broader pact that would ease economic woes and prolong relative calm after more than seven years of fighting.
United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg said late on Sunday he would continue to push for an extended and expanded deal between a coalition and the Ansar Allah group, both under intense international pressure to come to an agreement.
“It is a sad day for the Yemeni people,” said Abdullah Ali, a 58-year-old teacher in the capital Sanaa, where people rushed to stock up on fuel and food on Sunday evening.
“We hoped to start receiving our salaries and to move towards a ceasefire. We are shocked,” Ali said by phone.
Grundberg’s proposal is for a six-month truce extension, a mechanism to pay civil service wages, and greater movement of goods and people in the country where 80 per cent of the population of some 30 million rely on aid.
The initial two-month truce was agreed in April and renewed twice despite grievances by both sides over its implementation. It allowed some fuel ships into Hodeidah port and some commercial flights from Sanaa, both held by Ansar Allah.
“I will continue my relentless efforts to engage with the parties to quickly reach an agreement on a way forward,” the envoy said in a statement, urging the parties to maintain calm.
His proposal included paying civil servants’ salaries, opening routes into the blockaded city of Taez, expanding commercial flights from the fighter-held capital Sanaa and allowing more fuel ships into the port of Hodeida, also controlled by the Ansar Allah.
It also contained commitments to release detainees, resume an “inclusive” political process and tackle economic issues including public services.
But the northern-based Ansar Allah, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swathes of the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country, said the proposal “does not live up to the demands of the Yemeni people and does not establish the peace process”.
“The Yemeni people will not be deceived by false promises,” the Supreme Political Council said, demanding revenues from Yemen’s oil and gas resources, according to the Ansar Allah, Yemen News Agency.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands, devastated the economy and left millions hungry.
The parties on Sunday accused each other of hampering peace efforts. The government blamed the Ansar Allah, de facto authorities in the north, for refusing the deal.
The Ansar Allah Supreme Political Council criticised the UN proposal as lacking and threatened attacks on “airports, ports and oil companies of aggressor countries” if the military coalition does not lift its sea and air restrictions.
The coalition intervened in March 2015 after the Ansar Allah ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa. The group says it is fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.
— Reuters
