UN envoy warns against Yemen being ‘drawn deeper into regional crises’
HAMILTON, Canada
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said Wednesday that the country must not become further entangled in broader regional tensions because it could destabilize an already fragile situation.
“Above all, Yemen must not be drawn deeper into regional crises that threaten to unravel the already extremely fragile situation in the country,” Grundberg told the UN Security Council.
“The stakes for Yemen are simply too high; Yemen’s future depends on our collective resolve to shield it from further suffering and to give its people the hope and dignity they so deeply deserve,” he added.
While frontlines have remained largely static, Grundberg cautioned that “the situation remains fragile and unpredictable” and urged both sides to avoid unilateral actions that could derail progress.
“A military solution, however, remains a dangerous illusion that risks deepening Yemen’s suffering,” he said, adding that “while negotiations may not be easy, they offer the best hope for addressing in a sustainable and long-term manner the complexity of the conflict.”
On the deepening economic crisis, the envoy stated that “Across Yemen, the little money people do have in their hands is either falling in value or literally falling apart,” with food insecurity and the threat of famine growing more acute.
He reiterated his call for the “unconditional and immediate release by Ansar Allah of all those arbitrarily detained from the UN, national and international NGOs, civil society organizations and diplomatic missions.”
“We will not let this issue drop. Our detained colleagues are not forgotten, not by me or my mission, nor by all of us in the UN working tirelessly for the sake of the Yemeni population,” he stressed.
Echoing the urgency, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher reported that “Today, more than 17 million people in Yemen are going hungry. That number could climb to over 18 million by September.”
“This deterioration is unfolding just as global funding is plummeting, reducing our ability to feed the most vulnerable men, women and children,” Fletcher said, and called for urgent support, especially for the 6.2 million women and girls facing gender-based violence.
He announced new efforts to improve water access, including a $2 million investment by the Yemen Humanitarian Fund to connect 90,000 people to reliable water networks, with plans to reach 600,000 in Yemen’s southwestern city of Taiz.
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