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Yemen Agrees to Cease-Fire With Rebels Before Peace Talks Yemen Agrees to Cease-Fire With Rebels as Peace Talks Begin
(about 3 hours later)
GENEVA — The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels agreed to immediately halt fighting on Tuesday as they started peace talks mediated by a United Nations special envoy at an undisclosed location in Switzerland, a United Nations spokesman confirmed. GENEVA — The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels called an immediate halt to hostilities on Tuesday as they started peace talks mediated by a United Nations special envoy at an undisclosed location in Switzerland, a United Nations spokesman confirmed.
The seven-day cease-fire, if it holds, will provide desperately needed relief to Yemen’s population of 24 million after nine months of conflict that has taken the lives of thousands of civilians and inflicted significant damage on the country’s infrastructure, deepening the humanitarian crisis there. The cease-fire took effect at midday in Yemen, hours after a Saudi-led military coalition announced a seven-day pause in the campaign of intensive airstrikes it has conducted in support of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen.
Aides to President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has the backing of a Saudi-led military coalition, arrived in Switzerland on Monday, as did representatives of the Houthi rebels, who control the capital, Sana. They were set to meet the United Nations special envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, for their first round of face-to-face talks by midmorning, the United Nations spokesman in Geneva, Ahmad Fawzi, said in a telephone interview Tuesday morning. Scattered reports of shelling, mortar and automatic weapons fire pointed to violations of the truce in a number of areas. But for the most part, the truce appears to have held, offering a desperately needed respite to the country’s civilian population, battered by nine months of ferocious conflict. The United Nations estimates that the war has caused close to 40,000 casualties and inflicted significant damage on the impoverished country’s infrastructure, deepening its humanitarian crisis.
“The cessation of hostilities which was called today should mark the end of military violence in Yemen and the transition to progress based on negotiations, dialogue and consensus,” Mr. Ahmed said in a statement. The halt in fighting also provided diplomatic breathing space for the negotiators sent by President Hadi and the Houthis, who arrived in Switzerland on Monday and on Tuesday started their first face-to-face talks since the outbreak of hostilities. A previous attempt to stage peace talks in Geneva in June collapsed before the parties even met.
Peace is a prerequisite, Mr. Ahmed said, adding that Yemen needs to restore basic infrastructure, normalize life in its governorates and resume normal economic activity. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy mediating the talks, hailed the cease-fire as “a real achievement” in a statement opening the meeting, but he told delegates, “The most important thing now is to focus your efforts this week on reaching a permanent and comprehensive cease-fire.”
There were apparently no large-scale attacks after the official start of the cease-fire at noon, but mortar and automatic weapons fire from Saudi positions could be heard around 7 p.m. Tuesday, said a resident of Razih, which is near the border with Saudi Arabia. The cease-fire is “definitely positive, but this situation is extremely precarious,” said a diplomat who was closely monitoring developments, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Still, he added, “I think there is a will to make progress that we didn’t see in June.”
This is partly a result of far greater pressure on the parties to end the war, analysts say. The military coalition, backed by the United States, is facing mounting criticism over its bombing campaign, which has failed to defeat the Houthis despite the coalition’s overwhelming firepower and its dominance of the skies.
Yemen is also facing a growing threat from Sunni extremist groups that have gained strength since the conflict started. Yemen’s local affiliate of Al Qaeda has taken control of the country’s fifth-largest city and other towns, and a new branch of the Islamic State has carried out a series of deadly large-scale attacks.
Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, seven hours after the start of the cease-fire, mortar and automatic weapons fire from Saudi positions could be heard, said a resident of Razih, which is near the border with Saudi Arabia.
Houthi fighters have carried out hit-and-run attacks inside southern Saudi towns and have seized parts of Asir, Najran and Jizan.Houthi fighters have carried out hit-and-run attacks inside southern Saudi towns and have seized parts of Asir, Najran and Jizan.
“I heard and saw flames of artillery shells and machine guns now hitting in the border areas,” said the resident, who declined to give his name.“I heard and saw flames of artillery shells and machine guns now hitting in the border areas,” said the resident, who declined to give his name.
There have been several previous attempts to halt the fighting, but analysts say the parties now face far more pressure to end the war. The military coalition, backed by the United States, is facing mounting criticism over its bombing campaign, which has failed to defeat the Houthis despite the coalition’s overwhelming firepower and its dominance of the skies. Focusing on the devastating impact of the war on civilians, Mr. Ahmed told the Yemeni delegates that the people of Yemen were “daily, indeed hourly, anticipating the outcome of these discussions.”
And human rights groups say the coalition airstrikes have frequently been indiscriminate, causing the majority of civilian deaths and exposing coalition members, including the United States, to possible war crimes charges. “This meeting is their only glimmer of hope and must not be extinguished,” he added. Hundreds of children have died of starvation.
Yemen is also facing a growing threat from Sunni extremist groups that have gained strength since the conflict started. Yemen’s local affiliate of Al Qaeda has taken control of the country’s fifth-largest city and other towns, and a new branch of the Islamic State has carried out a series of deadly large-scale attacks. Since March, about 6,000 people have died in the fighting and 34,000 have been injured, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, noting that the estimates were conservative.
The cease-fire came after a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition announced a pause in the airstrike campaign on Monday in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Most of the civilian casualties have occurred in coalition airstrikes, which human rights groups say have frequently been indiscriminate, exposing coalition members, including the United States, to possible war crimes charges.
News of the cease-fire provided a positive start to a negotiation process that Mr. Ahmed has acknowledged will be difficult. About 80 percent of Yemen’s 24 million people need humanitarian aid, and 15 million lack access to health care, Ahmed Shadoul, the World Health Organization’s country representative for Yemen, told reporters in Geneva, giving details of a situation the organization described as “catastrophic.”
An attempt in June to mediate between the two sides collapsed before the groups even met. Around 70 health facilities have been damaged in the fighting, and many of the remaining hospitals and clinics cannot function effectively because there is no electricity or fuel to operate their generators, Mr. Shadoul said. Drugs are also in critically short supply because of a collapse in imports by private companies.
Mr. Ahmed said that he was seeking a “cease-fire without time limit,” but that more time would be needed to convert the talks into a permanent cessation of hostilities and to tackle issues like the withdrawal of militias and heavy weapons from conflict lines. Fighting has affected 20 of Yemen’s 22 governorates, or provinces, he said, but humanitarian needs are particularly acute in the governorate of Aden and in Taiz, the scene of ferocious battles in recent weeks, where 240,000 people are living in what Mr. Shadoul called “a virtual state of siege.”
“It’s definitely positive, but this situation is extremely precarious,” said a diplomat who was monitoring developments, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation. “I think there is a will to make progress that we didn’t see in June.” International aid agencies have drawn up plans for taking advantage of the cease-fire to deliver humanitarian supplies, and the United Nations has prepared 19 truckloads of medical supplies for distribution around the country, he added. Plans included a polio vaccination campaign in the coming days that will target five million children, he said.
To try to avoid distractions that could derail the process, the United Nations has not disclosed the location of the talks, arranged any news media access or released details about who is attending the talks. But failure to reach a solution in the talks in Switzerland “will have disastrous human and material consequences for the nation,” Mr. Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy, warned the warring parties’ negotiators. “Anyone who does not participate in the solution is effectively helping to perpetuate the crisis.”