UN urges Yemen peace talks on truce anniversary

DUBAI: The United Nations´ Yemen envoy warned on Sunday the war-ravaged country faces a “critical time” and urged steps towards lasting peace, exactly a year since a truce has dramatically reduced fighting.

Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg called the UN-brokered truce that took effect in April 2022 a “moment of hope” and said it was largely holding, despite lapsing in October.

“But the truce´s most significant promise is its potential to jumpstart an inclusive political process aimed at comprehensively and sustainably ending the conflict,” the UN secretary-general´s special envoy said in a statement.

Nearly a decade of war in Yemen has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, both directly and indirectly, and set off one of the world´s worst humanitarian crises. “There are still significant risks,” Grundberg said, calling to “protect the gains of the truce and to build on them towards more humanitarian relief, a nationwide ceasefire and a sustainable political settlement that meets the aspirations of Yemeni women and men”.