UN: Yemen Parties Make Progress on Ceasefire as Coronavirus Outbreak Grows

UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths has told the UN Security Council that significant progress is being made toward a ceasefire in Yemen, with both the government and the Houthi movement having been given draft copies of a plan.

Griffiths went on to say that the ceasefire needs to be part of a “broader package” including humanitarian and economic measures, and disagreements on those measures remains a stumbling block.

That’s always been a problem, with the Saudi offer of a ceasefire spurned by the Houthis specifically because it didn’t include an end to the naval blockade of the shore, which is keeping aid from coming into the country.

The blockade has been a key military policy to keep the Houthis on the defensive. With calls to put aside differences for the sake of the growing coronavirus pandemic, keeping food and medicine out of broad swaths of the country may no longer be a workable strategy.