UN Security Council to consider draft resolution on Yemen

A draft resolution on Yemen was circulated among all Security Council members on Monday for their consideration, diplomats said.

Dutch ambassador to the UN Karel van Oosterom said he hoped the draft resolution, which calls for a cease-fire around the key Red Sea port of Hudaydah, humanitarian access and injection of foreign currency into the economy, could be adopted as soon as possible "because that's what the Yemeni people need."

But Kuwaiti ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said his delegation has reservations about the British-drafted text, Xinhua news agency reported.

Asked by reporters whether the council would be able to vote on the draft resolution within this week, Otaibi said, "I doubt it."

He said the draft was first circulated among the five permanent members of the Security Council before it was made available to all the members on Monday.

Negotiations on the draft will start on Tuesday, he said.

UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock warned on Friday that Yemen suffers worst food insecurity in the world and the ongoing fighting is worsening circumstances for humanitarian response.

"Yemen faces the largest food security emergency in the world, and the worsening humanitarian outlook requires urgent action to reduce the likelihood of significant loss of life," he told the Security Council.

The UN secretary-general's special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, told the Security Council on Friday that he intended to reconvene the country's warring parties in Sweden, saying he had received firm assurance from the leadership of the parties to attend the meeting.

Yemen has been in civil war in the past three years, pitting Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition to support the Hadi government.

--IANS

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