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UN envoy heads to Sanaa amid push to reopen airport
SANAA, Dec 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The UN envoy for Yemen was scheduled to
arrive in the rebel-held capital Monday, a UN source said, as pressure
mounted to reopen Sanaa international airport after a three-year shutdown.
Envoy Martin Griffiths was expected to hold talks with Yemen’s Huthi
rebels in Sanaa, the UN source told AFP on condition of anonymity, ahead of
potential negotiations in Sweden this month aimed at ending nearly four years
of war in the Arab world’s poorest country.
A Saudi-led military coalition allied with the Yemeni government against
the Iran-backed Huthis announced it would allow for the evacuation of wounded
rebels on a UN chartered plane Monday.
The decision is a key step in kickstarting stalled negotiations, as world
powers press for an end to the conflict that has pushed Yemen to the brink of
famine.
The United Nations source told AFP the reopening of Sanaa international
airport, controlled by the rebels and largely destroyed by Saudi-led air
raids, was a priority at the planned peace talks.
Saudi Arabia and its allies control Yemen’s maritime borders and airspace
and have severely restricted imports to the country, where the UN warns 14
million people risk starvation.
The alliance accuses the Huthis of smuggling arms from Iran through Sanaa
airport and Yemen’s many ports.
Yemen’s Huthi rebels announced at the weekend that Sanaa international
airport could now meet the requirements of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) to “receive civilian flights”.
The ICAO has not released a statement on Sanaa airport.
A UN panel of experts this year said the “effective closure” of Sanaa
airport since 2015, when the Saudi-led alliance intervened in the Yemen war,
constituted a violation of international humanitarian law.
More than 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition
joined the Yemen war in an attempt to bolster President Abedrabbo Mansour
Hadi’s standing against the rebels, who had seized the capital and a string
of ports in a takeover the year before.
Multiple UN-sponsored attempts to find a solution to the Yemen conflict
have failed.
UN envoy Griffiths had initially announced Sanaa international airport
would reopen in September, when the rebels and government were due in Geneva
for talks.
The talks fell through before they began, as the rebels refused to leave
Sanaa unless the UN could guarantee the evacuation of wounded fighters and
the safe return of their delegation from Switzerland.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1535 hrs