Biden welcomes extension of Yemen ceasefire but ‘truce not enough’

US president Joe Biden has welcomed the two-month extension of the ceasefire in Yemen and urged the warring sides to seize the opportunity to resolve the seven-year-old conflict.

Mr Biden said during his recent visit to Jeddah, Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman had confirmed his commitment to the ceasefire and its renewal. Mr Biden commended US envoy Timothy Lenderking, secretary of state Antony Blinken, and peace-broker Oman for the achievement of this objective.

Since April, the twice-extended ceasefire has reduced fighting, saved lives and facilitated humanitarian aid deliveries to more than 73 per cent of Yemenis in dire need.

“As I stated last time the truce was extended, however, I recognise that a truce, while an important step and essential to saving lives, is not enough in the long run,” said Mr Biden.

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The goal of the ceasefire is “to provide tangible relief to civilians and to create a conducive environment for reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict through a comprehensive political process”, said UN envoy Hans Grunberg. He tried and failed to achieve a six-month ceasefire.

During the coming period, Houthi rebels have called on the Saudi-sponsored Yemeni government based in Aden to pay salaries of civil servants in Houthi held-areas and increase air traffic in and out of Sanaa’s airport. Aden has demanded an end to the Houthi siege of pro-government forces in the city of Taiz, the country’s third largest after Sanaa and Aden.

Both sides have failed to meet commitments over the past four months. While the Houthis have stopped firing drones or missiles at Saudi targets across the border, they have continued to close the roads to Taiz.

Saudi aerial bombing raids on the Houthi-controlled north have ceased but skirmishes on the ground have continued. Riyadh has permitted a limited number of ships to offload fuel at blockaded Hodeida port, the main entry point for Houthi-ruled areas, and allowed fewer flights than agreed to and from Sanaa.

Flown to hospitals

Nevertheless, 30 local and international aid agencies, including Oxfam and Save the Children, have said deaths have declined, sick Yemenis have flown to hospitals abroad for treatment and food and fuel supplies have increased and warned that benefits of the ceasefire could be lost if it was not extended.

Coinciding with renewal of the ceasefire, Mr Biden agreed to sell Saudi Arabia and the Emirates $5.3 billion (€5.2 billion) worth of anti-missile systems to protect them from Houthi missile and drone retaliation for Saudi bombing.

He has come under growing pressure from Congress to halt all arms transfers to the Saudis and Emiratis who launched the war in March 2015 to restore the Yemeni government which had been driven from power in 2014 by the Houthis.

Since the intervention, the UN estimates that 377,000 Yemenis have been killed, four million have been rendered homeless and hundreds of thousands have faced famine. The UN considers this the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.