UN envoy says risk of return to war in Yemen ‘real’
TSMA NEWS – NEW YORK
The U.N. envoy for Yemen warned that the risk of a return to fighting “is real,” urging warring parties to accept a longer extension of the current ceasefire due to expire next month.
Hans Grundberg’s stark warning late Tuesday came after he met in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, with Rashad al-Alimi, head of the internationally recognized presidential council, and in Oman’s capital of Muscat with Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the chief negotiator of the Houthi rebels. He also met with Saudi and Omani officials to push for a cease-fire extension.
Grundberg, who was in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa on Wednesday for further talks with the Houthis, said in a statement he discussed a U.N. proposal to renew the truce for a longer time “to give Yemenis the opportunity to make progress on a wider basket of priorities.”
“We are at a crossroads where the risk of a return to war is real and I am urging the parties to choose an alternative that prioritizes the needs of the Yemeni people,” he said.
The efforts to renew the cease-fire have come as the two sides held military parades in territories under their control. The internationally recognized government held parades on the anniversary of 1962 uprising against the Imamate rule in northern Yemen.