UN reaches 2-month extension to its truce in Yemen
In a press release, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced on 2 June that the warring parties to the conflict in Yemen have agreed to renew the truce that has been in place since the beginning of April.
According to the statement, during the first two months of the truce, the Yemeni community has experienced tangible benefits from the cessation of hostilities. The UN reports that civilian casualties in Yemen have been drastically reduced and that the country is once again seeing commercial flights in and out of the airport in the Houthi-controlled capital Sana'a. There were virtually no commercial airline flights in Yemen during the last 6 years of war between the government and Houthi rebels. Since April, Sana'a has again been connected to Egypt and Jordan. The passage of oil cargoes through the port of Hodeida was also a new development and a further step in restoring Yemen's ailing economy.
In his statement, Grundberg expressed the UN's progress in unblocking the roads leading to Taiz, one of the next steps most eagerly awaited by Yemeni society. The southern city of Taiz has been under siege by the Houthis almost since the start of the fighting. It has been virtually cut off from the rest of the country since 2016, which has had a very negative impact on its population and infrastructure.
The same communiqué thanks members of the Arab Coalition, Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman for their support for the UN peace initiative. The road to peace in Yemen was first glimpsed when the change of power at the top of the Yemeni government took effect. The exiled president Hadi, who has taken refuge in Saudi Arabia since 2016, was seen by many analysts as an obstacle to peace in Yemen. The changing of the guard, which has put in place a Presidential Ruling Council composed of a large group of Yemeni politicians and military personnel, is seen by Crisis Group analyst Peter Salisbury as a governing body much closer to the ground.
This is compounded by the stalemate in the conflict in April. Continued air strikes exchanged between Huthi and government forces led to what experts described as a "balance of power", especially after drone strikes on Abu Dhabi International Airport or near Jeddah and their respective responses by the Arab Coalition.
The results of this power shift are becoming evident. Nevertheless, in the two months of the first tranche of the peace truce, clear ceasefire violations have been reported between April and the end of May. The OSINT ACLED portal counts 786 violent activities in the period, which have resulted in 190 casualties, civilians and combatants mistaken for combatants.
A few days before the truce extension was announced, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was reported to have had a lengthy telephone conversation with Al Alimi, the leader of Yemen's new Presidential Council. According to the UN, the conversation turned to the truce announced on 2 June and the serious economic and social crisis in Yemen.
Hunger and poverty in the country are two of the main concerns of the UN in Yemen. After former President Hadi relinquished power, the Arab Coalition released funds exclusively for humanitarian efforts in the country, but the situation remains critical according to UN mission reports.