The Saudi-led coalition, which supports the Yemeni government against the Houthi rebels in the war in Yemen, announced on Tuesday (29) a truce in military operations during the month of April, which coincides with Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims. The ceasefire, announced at the request of the UN (United Nations), begins at 6 am this Wednesday (30), local time.
The UN has been working with the Saudi-led military alliance and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement to end the war that has lasted since 2015 and that has caused one of the most serious humanitarian crises today, with tens of thousands of deaths. The truce announced on Tuesday is the most significant step in peace efforts in more than three years.
The UN also calls for the release of fuel ships to dock at the rebel-held port of Hudaydah in the west of the country. More recent data, as of March 27, points to four fuel vessels awaiting authorization from the port, including a tanker stranded for nearly three months.
The truce proposal also includes allowing a small number of commercial flights from the capital’s Sanaa airport, sources familiar with the matter said. The terminal has been closed since 2015, when the coalition intervened after the Houthis overthrew the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in 2014. The Saudi coalition controls Yemen’s seas and airspace.
The plan was drawn up by the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and is supported by the United States and other Western powers, sources told Reuters said.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia hosted allied groups involved in the war, but the Houthis said they would not participate in the negotiations unless they were held in a neutral country. The talks take place at the Gulf Cooperation Council, based in the Saudi capital, and are expected to take more than a week. In a statement last week, the Houthis described the UN’s efforts as positive.
Since last year, the United Nations and the United States have been trying to secure a permanent truce, but differences over how such a ceasefire would take place have impeded progress in negotiations. The Houthis want the Saudi-led coalition to lift restrictions on sea ports and Sanaa airport before a truce, while the Saudi alliance advocates doing so simultaneously with the ceasefire.
On Saturday, the Houthis had unilaterally announced that they would suspend attacks on Saudi Arabia, as well as ground offensives in Yemen, for three days.
In recent months, the group has intensified missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. On Friday (25), one of these attacks caused a large fire in fuel storage tanks. The coalition retaliated on Sunday with air strikes in Hudaydah and Sanaa, where eight people were killed, including five women and two children.
On Sunday (27), a prisoner exchange agreement was agreed between the two parties, according to Houthi officials – who also say that the action, which takes place under UN guidance, could free the Yemeni president’s brother and a former ex- Ministry of Defense.
The Yemen war is seen as a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim country, and Shiite Iran. The conflict has already left more than 10,000 Yemeni children dead or maimed, according to UNICEF (the UN Children’s Fund).
