US, UN welcome Yemen cease-fire
US officials welcomed a Yemen truce that went into effect April 11 after quiet Saudi-Houthi negotiations had already reduced violence in the year-old conflict, and urged the parties to find a political resolution at April 18 peace talks in Kuwait.
WASHINGTON — The United States and United Nations strongly welcomed a Yemen cessation of hostilities that went into effect early April 11, and urged all the warring parties to find a political resolution to the year-old conflict at UN-brokered peace talks set to start in Kuwait on April 18.
“We encourage all parties to attend [the peace talks in Kuwait] and engage in good faith to find a sustainable way forward,” State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told journalists at a press briefing April 11. “The only way forward is a political one.”
"This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives," UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement April 11.
The truce is critical to enable humanitarian aid to be distributed to the Yemeni people, some 80% of whom now require humanitarian aid to survive, Toner said.
