UN Envoy for Yemen Meets Officials in Cairo on Yemen Conflict
Local Editor
According to the United Nations [UN] on Tuesday, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed met with officials in Egypt’s Cairo as part of the ongoing efforts to reach a political solution to the Yemen conflict which has led to just over 1,900 civilian deaths since the fighting erupted in March and caused almost 100,000 people to flee the country.
Ahmed met with the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, with whom he exchanged views on the situation in Yemen and the peace process, UN spokesperson Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in Switzerland’s Geneva.
The Secretary-General Elaraby said that "the League, when the time came, would consider seriously the question of monitors, in case of a ceasefire," said Fawzi.
"The Special Envoy still feels, as he did in Geneva, that there is momentum for a political solution to be reached and he is pushing all parties in that direction," said Fawzi.
Ahmed is to travel soon to Oman for meetings, followed by a visit to Saudi Arabia, before traveling to New York to brief the Security Council.
While in the Egyptian capital, the Special Envoy also met with the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General and key leaders of the General People’s Congress.
A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen since March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.
Based on UN figures, over 3,261 people have been killed, 1,670 of whom were civilians in the Saudi onslaught.
The US-led military aggression against Yemen began on March 26 - without a UN mandate - to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a close ally of Saudi Arabia, and to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement which is responding to the Saudi attacks on the country.
