UN Security Council calls for dialogue in Yemen

The UN Security Council has called on all parties in Yemen, particularly the Houthis, to engage in meaningful dialogue to stop fighting and resolve the conflict.

The members of the Security Council on Tuesday reiterated their support for a political solution as the only way to end the conflict in Yemen and their call on all parties to immediately agree on the modalities for a durable cessation of hostilities, French ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre, who is president of the Security Council for October, told reporters, Xinhua reported.

"The members of the Security Council deeply regretted the lack of progress in the political process and the worsening of the humanitarian situation," he said after Security Council consultations on Yemen.

The council asked for the implementation of relevant resolutions and demanded safe, rapid, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access to all populations in all affected governorates, he said.

In a briefing to the Security Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said the disaster in Yemen is man-made.

The recent sharp increase in civilian casualties showed the parties' continued disregard for the loss of civilian life and their obligations under international humanitarian law, said the envoy.

"I am in the process of developing a proposal that include confidence-building measures that will allow the parties to resume negotiations in order to reach a comprehensive agreement," he told reporters after the council meeting.

Yemen is in a civil war since 2015, pitting Sanaa-based Houthi forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and forces loyal to the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, based in Aden, in addition to attacks by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State terrorist groups.

--IANS

pgh/