The governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen have sent a joint letter to the UN Security Council urging it to pressure the Houthi militias and their backers, Iran, to stop hindering the implementation of the UN-brokered Stockholm peace agreement.
They also demanded allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to millions of starving Yemenis and respecting the ceasefire that was signed with the Yemeni government and Saudi-led coalition to restore legitimacy in the war-torn country.
In a joint letter by permanent representatives to the UN, Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah bin Yahya al-Mualimi, UAE’s Lana Nusseibeh and Yemen’s Abdullah al-Saad, delivered Security Council President Christoph Heusgen for April, the three countries stressed their commitment to a political solution and provision of humanitarian aid for Yemenis.
They stressed their continued support to UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths’ mission, especially his mandate to work towards the full implementation of the Stockholm agreement, which was reached in December 2018.
They also recalled that more than 100 days have passed since the end of the Swedish talks, but “despite the continuing setbacks caused by the Houthis and their Iranian supporters, our governments still believe that if the Stockholm agreement is fully implemented, this will improve the humanitarian situation of millions of Yemenis.”
“Further UN-led negotiations could also lead to achieving a political solution, which is urgently needed to end Yemen’s conflict,” they stressed, noting that the Security Council must continue to pressure Houthis and Iran to end their obstruction of the Stockholm agreement’s implementation process.
The three countries also warned of the enormous profits gained by the Houthis from controlling the flow of goods into areas they illegally occupy.
“This provides them with a perverse incentive to prevent aid from reaching starving people ــ a practice strongly condemned by aid organizations, such as the World Food Program.”
Looting aid and obstructing their delivery undermines the effectiveness of the humanitarian assistance provided by the Saudi-led coalition, which amounts to about $20 billion.
They pointed out that on Monday, Saudi Arabia and the UAE dedicated $200 million in aid to UN organizations in Yemen.
The funding is allocated to UN partners: $140 million to the WFP, $40 million to UNICEF to address sanitation issues and malnutrition among children and mothers and $20 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle cholera and provide intravenous feeding fluids.
