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UN / YEMEN
STORY: UN / YEMEN
TRT: 4:54
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 JANUARY 2021, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1.Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
14 JANUARY 2021, NEW YORK CITY
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen:
“I am extremely concerned about the impact of the decision from the United States to designate Ansar Allah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. We fear that there will be inevitably a chilling effect on my efforts to bring the parties together. We all hope to have absolute clarity on far-reaching exemptions to be able to carry out our duties. In any event, I remain committed to engage with all parties, including Ansar Allah, designated or not, to end the conflict in Yemen.”
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen:
“I condemn this attack in the strongest terms possible. I offer my most sincere condolences for those who lost their lives, and my hopes for a full and speedy recovery to the injured. And I want to express my solidarity with the new Government, which has demonstrated its resolve to stay in Aden despite the security risks to carry out its duties to the Yemeni people.”
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen:
“We need to maintain our focus and that of the parties on the primary goal, the primary goal is to resume an inclusive political process designed to comprehensively end the conflict. Agreeing on a political end state is of fundamental importance. It is the way the war ends. And thus for the parties, resuming the political process is more than an obligation, it is a duty.”
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9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Andrew Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The most urgent priority in Yemen right now is to prevent a massive famine. The data show that 16 million people will go hungry this year. Already, about 50,000 people are essentially starving to death in what is essentially a small famine. Another 5 million are just one step behind them.”
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11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Andrew Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The United States has said it will introduce licences so that some humanitarian aid and imports can continue. Would that help? Well, first, those licences do not yet exist. Aid agencies have no confirmed details on how they will work or what activities will be eligible. The details apparently won’t be ready until the day that the designation takes force, on 19 January. But second, licences and exemptions for humanitarian agencies will not solve the problem. As I have said, it is not humanitarian agencies who are importing most of the food.”
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13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Awad BinMubarak, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yemen:
“We heard a lot about the potential humanitarian impact if Ma’rib fell into the hands of the Houthis which is subjected to direct daily attacks by the Houthis, the city hosts millions of internal displaced people. They have been forcibly displaced from other cities in millions if anything happens, this would lead to a major humanitarian crisis and catastrophe. We haven’t heard of any expressions of concerns towards this matter and we should focus on that. There has been humanitarian crisis for over five years, we tried hard to compromise and put an end to this catastrophe, however, what kind of pressure has the international community brought onto this matter? We believe that if we do implement this designation, it would lead to the drying up of the financing of the Houthis and will bring real pressure to bear on the group. Therefore, we have to address those humanitarian concerns and try to alleviate them, obviously in time, we must all benefit from this important tool, we have to bring all types of pressure to bear on the group to push it towards peace.”
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UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said he is “extremely concerned about the impact of the decision from the United States to designate Ansar Allah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
Addressing the Security Council via a video link today (14 Jan), the Special Envoy said the designation will be “inevitably a chilling effect” on his office’s efforts to bring the parties together in Yemen. He said, “we all hope to have absolute clarity on far-reaching exemptions to be able to carry out our duties. In any event, I remain committed to engage with all parties, including Ansar Allah, designated or not, to end the conflict in Yemen.”
Griffiths also stated that 2020 ended on a harrowing note for Yemen. On 30th December, a vicious attack targeted the newly-formed Cabinet of the Yemeni government upon their arrival at Aden’s civilian airport. Dozens of civilians were injured or killed, including government officials, humanitarian relief workers and a journalist. Deliberate attacks on civilians or civilian objects are prohibited by international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime.
The special envoy condemned this attack “in the strongest terms possible,” offering his most sincere condolences for those who lost their lives, and his hopes for a full and speedy recovery to the injured.
He expressed his solidarity with the new Government, “which has demonstrated its resolve to stay in Aden despite the security risks to carry out its duties to the Yemeni people.”
On the negotiations on the Joint Declaration, the Special Envoy said, “we need to maintain our focus and that of the parties on the primary goal, the primary goal is to resume an inclusive political process designed to comprehensively end the conflict.”
He continued, “agreeing on a political end state is of fundamental importance. It is the way the war ends. And thus for the parties, resuming the political process is more than an obligation, it is a duty.”
On the humanitarian front, Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian chief told the Council that “the most urgent priority in Yemen right now is to prevent a massive famine.”
He explained, “the data show that 16 million people will go hungry this year. Already, about 50,000 people are essentially starving to death in what is essentially a small famine. Another 5 million are just one step behind them.”
On the humanitarian impact of the US designation, Lowcock stated that aid agencies have unanimously opposed this designation. They believe it will accelerate Yemen’s slide into a large-scale famine.
He explained that Yemen imports 90 per cent of its food. Nearly all that food is brought in through commercial channels. Aid agencies give people vouchers or cash to buy commercially imported food in the market. Aid agencies cannot replace the commercial import system.
He stated, “the United States has said it will introduce licences so that some humanitarian aid and imports can continue. Would that help? Well, first, those licences do not yet exist.”
He continued, “aid agencies have no confirmed details on how they will work or what activities will be eligible. The details apparently won’t be ready until the day that the designation takes force, on 19 January.”
Secondly, the humanitarian chief explained, “the licences and exemptions for humanitarian agencies will not solve the problem. As I have said, it is not humanitarian agencies who are importing most of the food.”
Ahmed Awad BinMubarak, Yemen’s Minister of Foreign Affairs also addressed the Council via a video link. He said, “we heard a lot about the potential humanitarian impact if Ma’rib fell into the hands of the Houthis which is subjected to direct daily attacks by the Houthis, the city hosts millions of internal displaced people. They have been forcibly displaced from other cities in millions if anything happens, this would lead to a major humanitarian crisis and catastrophe.”
The Foreign Minister continued, “we haven’t heard of any expressions of concerns towards this matter and we should focus on that.”
BinMubarak also said, “there has been humanitarian crisis for over five years, we tried hard to compromise and put an end to this catastrophe, however, what kind of pressure has the international community brought onto this matter? We believe that if we do implement this designation, it would lead to the drying up of the financing of the Houthis and will bring real pressure to bear on the group.”
He continued, “therefore, we have to address those humanitarian concerns and try to alleviate them, obviously in time, we must all benefit from this important tool, we have to bring all types of pressure to bear on the group to push it towards peace.”
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