UN: Yemen Truce Could Reverse Worsening Humanitarian Crisis

Ceasefire holds, UN urges donor nations to take advantage of it

Roughly half-way through the two-month ceasefire in Yemen, the truce is holding up better than expected. There was a lot of early pessimism on the matter, and many expected things to fall apart quickly.

Calm isn’t everything, however; as Yemenis enjoy the absence of violence, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen with scarcity of aid that the ceasefire should really be helping with.

This has the UN saying that the crisis can and should be reversed while the ceasefire remains, and that donor nations and groups should be looking to take advantage now, while the ceasefire is intact.

A big problem for the Yemenis is food and medicine scarcity, caused in part by naval blockades. Those blockades are eased during the ceasefire, and this is an opportunity for groups to make the most of their intentions to deliver aid before the truce ends and everything gets heavily restricted again.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.