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STORY: UN / YEMEN
TRT: 03:05
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 MAY 2017, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Close up, UN flag
30 MAY 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“Yemen now has the ignominy of being the world’s largest food security crisis with more than 17 million people who are food insecure, 6.8 million of whom are one step away from famine. Crisis is not coming, it is not looming, it is here today; on our watch and ordinary people are paying the price.”
4. Med shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“The parties to the conflict and the international community, especially the Security Council, cannot allow the deadly combination of violence, inaction and indifference to condemn the Yemen people to a bleak obituary.”
6. Med shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“Cholera is spreading at an unprecedented rate and famine is knocking on the doors of millions tonight. The parties to this conflict and their allies, as well countries in the region and across the globe, must set aside politics and self-interest and respond at the most humane level, facilitate access and mobilize resources to treat the cholera outbreak, and allow food to get to those in need.”
8. Med shot, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Special Envoy for Yemen, United Nations:
“An agreement on Hodeida and salaries was supposed to be a first step towards a holistic cessation of hostilities and a resumption of discussions for a comprehensive agreement. Yet even these preliminary talks we obstructed as if there was someone who did not want it to happen in the first place.”
10. Med shot, O’Brien and Yemeni ambassador
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Special Envoy for Yemen, United Nations:
“Despite the gravity of what happened, it has increased my determination to continue with my efforts to find a comprehensive peaceful solution which guarantees security and stability for the Yemeni people. I urge the Council to strongly convey to the parties that they need to engage immediately with the United Nations to agree on steps to the conflict, to stop the bloodshed, and to avoid citizens facing famine and disease.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany, Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations:
“Yemen today, ladies and gentlemen, is the horrific scene of the divine comedy on Dante, where death prevails over all colour and human suffering is the major headline. All of this is due to the coup masters’ grip on the authority they grabbed by force and their mastery in stealing the Yemeni people’s limited resources.”
14. Wide shot, Ould Cheikh Ahmed
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany, Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations:
“This is the picture of the child Elias Aqlan. He is six years old and was killed by a Houthi howitzer shell in the Dabou3a neighbourhood in Taiz on the 23rd of May. His tear is still visible and will chase the killers until justice prevails for him and other innocent children.”
16. Zoom out, Security Council
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said Yemen now had the “ignominy of being the world’s largest food security crisis” adding that crisis was “not coming, it is not looming, it is here today, on our watch and ordinary people are paying the price.”
Addressing the Security Council today (30 May), O’Brien said over 17 million people in the country are food insecure and 6.8 million them are “one step away from famine.” He stressed that all parties to the conflict in Yemen have proven their continued inability to put the genuine needs of the Yemen people first with half of all health facilities now closed and people dying because even basic medical treatment is no longer available. He said, “The parties to the conflict and the international community, especially the Security Council, cannot allow the deadly combination of violence, inaction and indifference to condemn the Yemen people to a bleak obituary.”
O’Brien noted that the crisis was not an unforeseen or coincidental result of forces beyond human control, but rather it is a direct consequence of actions of the parties and supporters of the conflict and a result of inaction, whether due to inability or indifference, by the international community. He said, “The parties to this conflict and their allies, as well countries in the region and across the globe, must set aside politics and self-interest and respond at the most humane level, facilitate access and mobilize resources to treat the cholera outbreak, and allow food to get to those in need.”
UN Special Enovy on Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said violence in the country continued on numerous fronts, deepening the suffering of the Yemeni people. He said parties were not close to a comprehensive agreement, adding that the reluctance of the key parties to embrace the concessions needed for peace, or even discuss them, remains extremely troubling.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said military action has so far been averted in Hodeidah adding that the spread of fighting to the city would lead to a devastating loss of civilian life and would threaten the flow of food and medical supplies through its port. The Special Envoy said he put forward a proposal which would allow for the continued flow of commercial and humanitarian supplies through Hodeidah and ensure the diversion of customs revenues to support paying salaries for civil servants. He said, “An agreement on Hodeida and salaries was supposed to be a first step towards a holistic cessation of hostilities and a resumption of discussions for a comprehensive agreement. Yet even these preliminary talks we obstructed as if there was someone who did not want it to happen in the first place.”
The Special Envoy also stressed that the attack on his convoy last Monday (22 May) could not be ignored and called on local authorities to conduct a full and transparent investigation. He said, despite the gravity of what happened, “it has increased my determination to continue with my efforts to find a comprehensive peaceful solution which guarantees security and stability for the Yemeni people.”
Yemeni ambassador Khaled Alyemany said his country was “the horrific scene of the divine comedy of Dante, where death prevails over all colour and human suffering is the major headline” adding that this was caused by “the coup masters’ grip on the authority they grabbed by force and their mastery in stealing the Yemeni people’s limited resources.” Alyemany said his Government did not choose this war; rather it was forced into it after exhausting all peaceful means and giving many concessions. Holding the picture of a child killed by a shell in Taiz, the Yemeni ambassador said the child’s tear was “still visible and will chase the killers until justice prevails for him and other innocent children.”
