UN / YEMEN

Following meetings with the Government of Yemen in Riyadh and Aden, and with Ansar Allah in Muscat, the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the Security Council that “the gap in trust between warring parties is wide and growing.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:31
• Production Date: 14 October 2021
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: HANS GRUNDBERG
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: CONFLICT SITUATION; PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: YEMEN
• MAMS Id: 2669876
• Parent Id: 2669876
• Alternate Title: unifeed211014e

Description

STORY: UN / YEMEN
TRT: 02:31
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 14 OCTOBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

14 OCTOBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Council President
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy for Yemen, United Nations:
“The gap in trust between warring parties is wide and growing. I met with the Government of Yemen in Riyadh and Aden, and with Ansar Allah in Muscat. The issue of sequencing of possible interim steps remains a preoccupation that overshadows the need to start discussing the parameters for an overall political settlement of the conflict. My view, which I have shared with them, is that while interim progress should be made on urgent humanitarian and economic matters, a durable solution can only be achieved through a comprehensive negotiated political settlement.”
5. Wide shot, Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy for Yemen, United Nations:
“In recent weeks, we have seen public executions, enforced disappearances, killings, and the use of live ammunition against protestors in several areas of the country. The lack of accountability and impunity has diminished Yemenis’ faith in the possibility of peaceful co-existence and a future in which the rights of all Yemenis will be respected.”
7. Wide shot, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy for Yemen, United Nations:
“Measures to mitigate the immediate impact of the conflict on civilians are of paramount importance. Salaries need to be paid, roads in Taiz, Marib and elsewhere need to be opened. Restrictions on the import of fuel and goods through Hudaydah port must end, and fuel needs to be available for civilian use without restrictions. Sana’a airport needs to open for civilian traffic. These steps can tangibly improve the lives of Yemenis in the immediate term.”
9. Wide shot, Council
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdullah al-Saadi, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Yemen:
“These militias are a tool in the hands of the regime in Iran, making our nation hostage to Iranian intervention. They are exporting Iranian experience to Yemen, and the Yemeni people reject this experience in its entirety. This is an armed group believing in the imposition if their divine right by force. They do not believe in freedom, democracy, or the peaceful handover of power."
11. Zoom out, end of meeting

Storyline

Following meetings with the Government of Yemen in Riyadh and Aden, and with Ansar Allah in Muscat, the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, today (14 Oct) told the Security Council that “the gap in trust between warring parties is wide and growing.”

Grundberg stressed that “while interim progress should be made on urgent humanitarian and economic matters, a durable solution can only be achieved through a comprehensive negotiated political settlement.”

The Special Envoy said, “in recent weeks, we have seen public executions, enforced disappearances, killings, and the use of live ammunition against protestors in several areas of the country,” and added that “the lack of accountability and impunity has diminished Yemenis’ faith in the possibility of peaceful co-existence and a future in which the rights of all Yemenis will be respected.”

He called for measures to mitigate the immediate impact of the conflict on civilians. He said, “salaries need to be paid, roads in Taiz, Marib and elsewhere need to be opened. Restrictions on the import of fuel and goods through Hudaydah port must end, and fuel needs to be available for civilian use without restrictions. Sana’a airport needs to open for civilian traffic.”

These steps, he said, “can tangibly improve the lives of Yemenis in the immediate term.”

In his briefing to the Council, Yemen’s Ambassador Abdullah al-Saadi said, Houthi militias “are a tool in the hands of the regime in Iran, making our nation hostage to Iranian intervention.

He said, “they are exporting Iranian experience to Yemen, and the Yemeni people reject this experience in its entirety. This is an armed group believing in the imposition if their divine right by force. They do not believe in freedom, democracy, or the peaceful handover of power."

The Council also heard briefings from the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ramesh Rajasingham and Maysaa Abdulrahman Shujaa Addin from the Sana'a Centre for Strategic Studies.