Local Editor

 The United Nations Security Council [UNSC] has urged Saudi Arabia to lift its blockade on Yemen on Thursday.

The UN Security Council said that commercial cargo ships carrying food, fuel and other vital supplies must be allowed to reach ports in Yemen which is threatened by famine.

The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen has imposed maritime controls that UN diplomats have described as a blockade preventing imports from reaching Yemen.

The 15-member council said in a unanimous statement that there was "an urgent need for ongoing commercial supplies to enter Yemen as a humanitarian imperative."

Yemen’s imports have dropped to 15 percent of pre-crisis levels, in a country that is heavily dependent on goods from outside to survive.

Yemen slid deeper into turmoil when the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the poor country in March.

More than 21 million people -- 80 per cent of Yemen’s population -- need humanitarian aid and one million have been displaced in the fighting. 

Additionally, more than 20 million people lack access to water while the collapsing health care system is facing an outbreak of dengue fever and malaria in the south and in areas bordering Saudi Arabia.

UN aid chief Stephen O’Brien said that ten of Yemen’s 22 governorates are classified as being in food emergency -- one step below famine.

"It’s vital that we get commercial ships back in", he told reporters. 

O’Brien, who traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier this month in June, said discussions in Saudi Arabia focused on ensuring that the ships’ cargos are inspected and that the United Nations [UN] could oversee these measures.

According to the United Nations [UN], O’Brien released $25 million in additional UN funds to help ease the devastating humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

The Security Council meanwhile in its statement urged world governments to dig deep in their pockets after only 10 percent of the latest UN appeal for Yemen of $1.6 billion was raised.

The council also endorsed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for a humanitarian pause despite the failure recently last week of peace talks in Switzerland’s Geneva on the Yemeni conflict.