Yemen’s warring sides fail to end rebel blockade of 3rd city
CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s warring parties failed to reach agreement on Saturday to lift a blockade by Houthi rebels of the country’s third largest city, the United Nations said, after three days of talks in the Jordanian capital.
The failure virtually shuts down hopes that the blockade of Taiz will be lifted as it was supposed to be as part of a U.N.-brokered two-month truce that ends June 1.
Hans Grundberg, the U.N. envoy in Yemen, said a proposal had been floated for a phased reopening of roads in Taiz and elsewhere, which would help facilitate aid deliveries and the movement of suffering Yemenis.
In a statement, he urged Yemen’s internationally recognized government and its Iran-backed rebels to conclude internal deliberations and deliver “positive results to the Yemeni people” in subsequent talks.
The U.N. mission did not provide further details on the proposal or say when the parties would resume talks.
Yemen’s conflict broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.
The conflict created now one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world while becoming a regional proxy war in recent years. More than 150,000 people have been killed, including over 14,500 civilians.