U.N. aiming for pause in Yemen fighting for humanitarian relief
The United Nations has alerted aid groups to be prepared for a possible humanitarian pause in fighting in Yemen, starting as early as Friday, that would allow them to deliver assistance to some of the 21 million people in need.
A Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab states has been bombing the Iranian-allied Houthi rebel movement since late March in a bid to restore to power Yemen's elected president, who is backed by neighboring Saudi Arabia and has fled to Riyadh.
A senior U.N. aid official in Yemen wrote in an email to aid groups, sent on Wednesday and seen by Reuters, that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon "is calling for the pause to start as soon as this Friday, 3 July." U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is currently in Jeddah to meet with Saudi officials, the U.N. said.
