The Office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen is engaging the parties on reaching agreements on a nationwide ceasefire, humanitarian and economic measures to limit the suffering of Yemeni people, to help counter the threat of the coronavirus.

The United Nations has issued a global call for armed groups to stand down during the pandemic.

On April 01, 2020, Yemen’s government released hundreds of prisoners charged with lesser crimes amid fears that the coronavirus could spread through the country’s jails.

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Yemen has so far not recorded any case of COVID-19, but if it happens, the impact will be catastrophic for a country already facing what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations has issued a global call for armed groups to stand down during the pandemic.

The Yemen government and Houthi rebels had responded positively to the appeal, together with Saudi Arabia which leads a military coalition that supports the government.

The Office of the Special Envoy continues its efforts to reach out to broader Yemeni groups and communities to consult them about ways to resume an inclusive political process and seek their inputs on what could be done to support the capacity of Yemen to avert and mitigate a COVID-19 outbreak.

On April 01, 2020, the US Secretary of State Mike POMPEO backed efforts to ease tensions between Yemen’s warring sides during a phone call with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin FARHAN.

They agreed that “An unstable Yemen benefits only the Iranian regime and the US would continue to support Saudi Arabia in the face of Iran’s threatening behavior”.

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted two ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh and Jizan at the weekend, part of a drone and missile attack by the Iran-backed rebels.

The US, UK, and regional states condemned the Houthis’ attacks on civilian targets in the kingdom.

In response, on April 06, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched strikes against rebel military bases in Sanaa.

Al JABER confirmed that talks are still on the table and said the coalition strikes were not intended to cause a flare-up in hostilities but were in response to the rebels’ missile attacks.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis have been killed in more than five years of fighting that has devastated the impoverished Arab nation.

This article was edited using the data from the National.ae, the Defensepost.com, and Osesgy.unmissions.org. Responsibility for the accurate information set out in this article lies entirely to the original sources.

Source of the photo: The DefensePost.