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STORY: UN / YEMEN
TRT: 04:58
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
14 APRIL 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen:
“My recent trip to Aden was a reminder that, after a decade of conflict, Yemen has little margin to absorb more shocks. The new Cabinet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zindani whom I met in Aden, is prioritizing efforts to stabilize the economy, including regarding electricity provision and public sector salaries, with the vital support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen:
“Two milestones deserve particular note: the approval of the 2026 state budget – the first in seven years – and the conclusion of Article IV consultations between the Government and the International Monetary Fund, the first in eleven years. These are positive signs. But Yemen remains highly exposed to the economic repercussions of the regional escalation, and as the global situation has made clear, it is always the poorest and most vulnerable who bear the heaviest burden. Yemenis across the country have long contended with inadequate public services, delayed salaries, and rising prices, and they will now have to contend with import disruptions and higher fuel and food prices triggered by wider conflict in the Middle East.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen:
“Yemen is also very dependent on remittances from GCC countries, which are at risk of declining. These pressures fall on a Yemeni economy already weakened by the obstruction of government oil and gas exports, by the division of the Central Bank, and by the broader weaponization of economic life that has, for too long, made ordinary Yemenis pay the price of decisions taken over their heads.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“More than 22 million people – nearly half of the population – across Yemen need humanitarian aid, and that number is rising. This crisis is hitting the most vulnerable first and hardest. Hunger is tightening its grip. More than 18 million people face severe hunger. Two out of every three families are forced to skip meals every day. Women and children of course are hit the hardest.”
10. Med shot, Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The nutrition crisis continues unabated: 2.2 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, and 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women face life-threatening complications due to malnutrition. For too many children, too many mothers, this means irreversible, lifelong physical and cognitive damage, stunting – even death.”
12. Med shot, Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“At the same time, the health system is collapsing. Two out of every five health facilities are not fully functional, leaving more than 19 million people who need healthcare without it. Vaccine preventable diseases are spreading fast – cholera, measles and diphtheria are ravaging communities in numbers that place Yemen among the worst in the world.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“Seventy-three of our UN colleagues remain arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities, held in uncertain conditions. Many of our assets have been seized and our access is severely restricted. Faced with this reality, we have been forced to reassess our operations in areas held by the de facto authorities.”
15. Wide shot, Security Council
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Yemen:
“Mr. President, with regard to the issue of detainees, prisoners and abductees, we highly appreciate the efforts led by the United Nations and this important humanitarian track. We reiterate the Yemeni government's strong commitment to ensure its success, for this stems from its firm commitment to alleviating the suffering of thousands of Yemeni families. We hope for a swift implementation of previously agreed upon arrangements, the completion of prisoner exchange agreement and the release of all detainees, prisoners and abductees in accordance with the principle of all for all without conditional restriction, as stipulated in the Stockholm Agreement. We also hope that this important step will serve as an entry point for closing this humanitarian file and the foundation for building the trust necessary for any comprehensive peace process in Yemen.”
17. Wide shot, Security Council
“Yemen remains highly exposed to the economic repercussions of the regional escalation, and as the global situation has made clear, it is always the poorest and most vulnerable who bear the heaviest burden,” Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen said.
Briefing the Security Council today (14 April) Grundberg also said, “Yemenis across the country have long contended with inadequate public services, delayed salaries, and rising prices, and they will now have to contend with import disruptions and higher fuel and food prices triggered by wider conflict in the Middle East.”
Yemen continues to be affected by spillover from the regional crisis that began with US‑Israeli strikes against Iran on 28 February. The Houthis–a Yemeni rebel group holding de facto control over northern Yemen that is part of an Iran-backed coalition of armed groups known as the “axis of resistance”—had paused their attacks on Israel and on Red Sea shipping following the Gaza ceasefire agreement in October 2025.
However, on 28 March, the group resumed strikes on Israel in response to the widening regional escalation, including Israeli military expansion into Lebanon and strikes targeting Hezbollah.
Following the 7 April announcement of a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the US, differences emerged between the conflict parties on whether the truce framework included Lebanon, which Israel continued to bomb heavily.
In a 9 April speech, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi described the ceasefire announcement as a “great victory” for Iran, while stressing that de-escalation efforts will not be successful unless Israel ceases its attacks on Lebanon and on any member of the “axis of resistance.” He also signalled the group’s readiness to prepare for “inevitable coming rounds” of conflict.
Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the Council that more than 22 million people, nearly half of Yemen's population, need humanitarian aid, and that number is rising.
“This crisis is hitting the most vulnerable first and hardest. Hunger is tightening its grip,” Wosornu said, adding that more than 18 million people face severe hunger and two out of every three families are forced to skip meals every day.
The nutrition crisis continues unabated, she said, with 2.2 million children under the age of five acutely malnourished and 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women facing life-threatening complications due to malnutrition. “For too many children, too many mothers, this means irreversible, lifelong physical and cognitive damage, stunting – even death,” Wosornu said.
She warned that Yemen's health system is collapsing, with two out of every five health facilities not fully functional, leaving more than 19 million people who need healthcare without it. Vaccine-preventable diseases including cholera, measles and diphtheria are spreading at rates that place Yemen among the worst in the world, she said.
Wosornu also told the Council that 73 UN colleagues remain arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities, with many UN assets seized and access severely restricted. “Faced with this reality, we have been forced to reassess our operations in areas held by the de facto authorities,” she said.
Yemen's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi, said his government strongly supports UN-led efforts on detainees and called for swift implementation of previously agreed arrangements, the completion of a prisoner exchange agreement, and the release of all detainees “in accordance with the principle of all for all without conditional restriction, as stipulated in the Stockholm Agreement.”
He expressed hope that progress on the issue would serve as “an entry point for closing this humanitarian file and the foundation for building the trust necessary for any comprehensive peace process in Yemen.”
