UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg announced on Sunday that no agreement had been reached to renew the truce between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Iran-supported Houthi rebels. “The UN special envoy regrets that an agreement has not been reached today, as an extended and expanded truce would provide additional critical benefits to the population,” his office said in a statement. “I appreciate the position of the government of Yemen on engaging positively with my proposal. I will continue to work with both sides to try and find solutions,” Grundberg continued.
The UN proposal that the warring parties received on Saturday included a six-month extension of the truce, as well as salary and pension for thousands of civil servants who have not been paid now for more than seven years, and the opening of roads into the besieged city of Taiz and other provinces that are controlled by the government. The truce also would have seen more commercial flights to and from the airport in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, and unhindered access to the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah for fuel ships.
State media outlets reported that the Yemeni government agreed to the truce proposal. The Houthis, however, rejected the proposal, without saying why and despite it meeting their main demands.
They also threatened Sunday to attack the facilities of foreign oil companies operating in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which support the Yemeni government. “The [Houthi] Armed Forces give the oil companies operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia an opportunity to arrange their status and leave,” Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea said in a statement carried by the Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah TV, just after Grundberg announced the truce proposal’s failure. “The truce has reached a dead end,” the Houthi military spokesman concluded.
A two-month truce between the government and the Houthi forces was first agreed to on April 2 and then extended twice, but officially ended on Sunday.