UNSC to hold emergency meeting on Yemen

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Yemen amid the unabated Saudi aggression against its impoverished neighbor.

The 15-member UN body will convene for closed consultations on Friday, a message on the social media website, Twitter by Lithuania, which now holds its rotating presidency, said.

According to the message, the UN political chief, Jeffrey Feltman, will brief the council on the situation in Yemen.

The emergency meeting has been called a day after the UN chief warned that a dire shortage of fuel in Yemen may bring all relief operations to a halt as more and more people fall victim to Saudi Arabia’s indiscriminate air attacks.

“Humanitarian operations will end within days unless fuel supplies are restored,” Ban said in a statement, urging an “immediate resumption of fuel imports to avoid making the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen even worse.”

The fuel shortage has already left its impact on the distribution of aid to the affected Yemeni people, with the World Food Program (WFP) saying earlier that it is halting its delivery of food aid to the needy across Yemen.

There has been an effective blockade on Yemen during the ongoing Saudi aggression, with airports being closed to civilian traffic and naval shipments experiencing numerous delays.

The UN chief also said there must be an immediate ceasefire, or at least, a humanitarian pause in areas affected by the violence to make it possible to help those in need.

On Friday, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said 1,244 Yemenis have lost their lives and 5,044 others have been injured from March 19 to April 27. Hundreds of women and children are among the victims, according to the WHO.

Riyadh launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a United Nations mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Hadi fled to Riyadh on March 25 when Houthis bore down on the strategic port city of Aden after taking control of the Yemeni capital last September.

On April 21, Riyadh announced the end of the first phase of its unlawful military operations, but airstrikes have continued with Saudi bombers targeting different areas across the country in a new phase.

IA/GHN/SS

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