Local Editor

The United Nations [UN] special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, expressed concern on Tuesday about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the impoverished country due to the US-led Saudi military aggression.

Cheikh Ahmed made the remarks in Switzerland’s city of Geneva on Tuesday, where UN-backed consultations on Yemen are being held.

He referred to a surge in the number of people in need of help in Yemen, adding that Yemeni citizens are currently in a difficult situation from the humanitarian point of view.

"I was the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen less than two years ago. When I was there, seven million Yemenis needed humanitarian assistance. Today, 21 million Yemenis need humanitarian assistance and 20 million have no drinking water," he said.

He further said that the Yemenis hope for a ceasefire before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, even if it is a humanitarian truce.

Cheikh Ahmed emphasized also that the UN believes that dialog among Yemeni groups is crucial for ending the crisis in the war-stricken country.

"In a situation like this, the Yemenis need to talk among themselves, not with the United Nations. As long as we have not reached the point where the Yemenis agree together, this will be very difficult. For them to agree, they have to start talking together," he stated.

The UN envoy’s remarks come as representatives of several Yemeni factions, including the Ansarullah movement, are holding consultations in Geneva to find a way out of the ongoing conflict in Yemen. 

The US-led Saudi military aggression against Yemen started on March 26 -- without a UN mandate -- in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a close ally of Saudi Arabia.

According to the UN, at least 2,600 people have been killed and 11,000 others injured due to the conflict in Yemen since March 19. 

This is while the Yemeni army along with popular committees, including the Ansarullah revolutionaries, are responding to the US-led Saudi aggression in retaliation for the attacks against their country.