Security Council welcomes 'extraordinary' efforts by UN to convene Yemen consultations

The members of the Security Council, in a press statement issued at UN Headquarters in New York, also “strongly condemned all violence, attempts or threats to use violence to intimidate those participating in UN-brokered consultations and emphasized that such action is unacceptable.”

They also expressed “deep concern” about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, including the risk of famine, and encouraged donors to contribute to the UN’s revised appeal for $1.6 billion, which is currently only around 10 percent funded.

“The members of the Security Council recognized and welcomed the extraordinary efforts of the United Nations,” in particular Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, to convene the consultations for Yemen in Geneva, Switzerland and expressed their continued support for the efforts of the Special Envoy,” the statement said.

The statement went on to say that the Security Council “positively took note of the Special Envoy’s briefing to the Security Council on the principles to advance the UN-brokered consultations” and “strongly encouraged the parties to further discuss and consider these proposals in their engagement with the UN and the Special Envoy.”

They also “reaffirmed their call on Yemeni parties to attend future talks and engage without preconditions and in good faith, including by resolving their differences through dialogue and consultations, rejecting acts of violence to achieve political goals, and refraining from provocation and all unilateral actions to undermine the political transition.”

Furthermore, the Security Council “emphasized that the UN-brokered inclusive political dialogue must be a Yemeni-led process, with the intention of brokering a consensus-based political solution to Yemen’s crisis in accordance with the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism, the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue conference, and relevant Security Council resolutions.”

On humanitarian efforts, the Security Council endorsed the UN Secretary General’s call for a further humanitarian pause to allow life-saving assistance, including medical aid, to reach the Yemeni people urgently and stressed the urgent need for commercial supplies to enter Yemen as a humanitarian imperative.

Members called upon all sides to comply with international humanitarian law, including taking all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects, and to urgently work with the United Nations and humanitarian aid organizations to get assistance to those in need.

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré