Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthi militia will renew their nationwide truce for another two months, the UN announced on Tuesday.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg has held a series of meetings with representatives of Yemen’s warring sides over the past months to ensure the continuation of the nationwide truce, which came into effect on April 2.
“I am pleased to announce that the parties have agreed to extend the truce under the same terms for an additional two months from August 2 until October 2,” said Grundberg in a statement released on the UN website. “This truce extension includes a commitment from the parties to intensify negotiations to reach an expanded truce agreement as soon as possible,” he continued. The envoy thanked “the leaderships of the parties for agreeing to this truce extension and for their continued constructive engagements in implementing and seeking an expansion to the truce.”
Yemen’s internationally recognized government welcomed the extension of the UN-brokered truce according to the previous provisions, the state-run Saba news agency reported.
Yemen’s civil war began in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital, Sanaa. It has created conditions that some observers have described as the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today. Thousands of soldiers and around 14,500 civilians have been killed directly by the violence and at least another 150,000 civilians have died as a result of the war; according to the Save the Children Fund, 85,000 Yemeni children may have died from starvation. The war has also displaced more than 4 million people.