Aid agencies prepare to rush in relief ahead of Yemen ceasefire

The United Nations said the six-day truce would begin at 11.59pm on Friday and last until the end of Ramadan on July 17.

Armed Houthi militiamen inspect damage to a building reportedly hit by a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa, Yemen, on July 10, 2015. EPA/Yahya Arhab

Sanaa // Aid agencies prepared to rush in desperately needed relief supplies to millions of Yemenis yesterday amid guarded hopes for a six-day truce that was to take effect at midnight.

The truce is the “final hope” to reach areas in need of aid, the World Food Programme said.

Spokeswoman Abeer Etefa said two ships carrying food and fuel were waiting to dock off the coast of Aden. The United Nations said the six-day ceasefire would begin at 11.59pm yesterday and last until the end of Ramadan on July 17.

Ahead of the deadline, Saudi-led coalition aircraft bombarded Houthi rebel positions, more than three months into its campaign to restore the internationally recognised government of exiled president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.

The pause in fighting was declared on Thursday after UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon received assurances from Mr Hadi and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that it would be respected.

It came more than a week after the UN declared Yemen a level-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale.

“It is imperative and urgent that humanitarian aid reaches all vulnerable people of Yemen unimpeded and through an unconditional humanitarian pause,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

UN aid agencies are ready to scale up operations during the pause, although the response to an appeal for US$1.6 billion (Dh5.9bn) has been meagre, with just 13 per cent of that amount received so far.

Eighty per cent of Yemen’s population – more than 21.1 million people – are in need of aid, with 13 million facing food shortages.

The UN says the conflict has killed more than 3,200 people, about half of them civilians, since late March.

Ms Etefa said the WFP had managed to deliver 9,000 tonnes of food to its warehouses in Yemen over the past week, but the truce was needed to secure its delivery.

Nearly 40 lorries in two convoys to Aden and Saada have yet to reach their destinations because of damaged roads and security problems, Ms Etefa said.

“We hope to see an effective respect for the ceasefire, and to allow us to reach all parts of Yemen regardless of who controls them,” she said.

The UN children’s agency said it was stepping up nutrition screening, vaccinations and other life-saving interventions for millions of children, with teams having to “brave extremely hazardous conditions”.

“If they don’t do that more children are likely to die from malnutrition and preventable diseases,” said Julien Harneis, the Unicef representative in Yemen.

This will be the second ceasefire since the Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the Iran-backed northern rebels and their allied troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in March.

A five-day truce in May allowed aid to reach civilians caught in the fighting, but UN efforts to prolong the ceasefire failed.

The Houthis overran Sanaa unopposed in September and have since expanded their control over several regions, aided by troops loyal to Mr Saleh.

They pushed Mr Hadi into exile when they advanced in March on the southern city of Aden, where he took refuge after escaping house arrest in Sanaa.

The minister of human rights in Mr Hadi’s exiled government, Ezzedine Al Asbahi, cast doubt over the rebels’ commitment to the truce.

“They exercise high-level trickery, even with the international community. Their military movements on the ground do not reflect a good will, or sincere decision to cement a humanitarian truce,” he said.

Sanaa resident Mohammed Al Juhayfi said he was already dreading the end of the truce period.

“We do not want a truce of five or 10 days, which we will then count by the minute. We want a full solution for the Yemen crisis,” he said.

The Saudi-led coalition has not commented on ceasefire.

However, a Saudi official said there were doubts about whether it would be effective.

“I believe the coalition has not received ... any evidence of commitment of the other party,” the official said.

The rebels do not have control of all of their allied forces, he said.

“We believe that this pause will be useless.”

On Friday, warplanes hit rebel positions north of Sanaa, as well as in the rebel northern stronghold of Saada, witnesses said.

Air raids also targeted rebels in the provinces of Marib, Dhamar and Baida.

In Aden, where heavy clashes continued between rebels and southern fighters allied with Mr Hadi, coalition warplanes struck rebel positions in Al Mualla district and the northern and western outskirts of the port city, military sources said.

* Agence France-Presse