“It is mandatory that the parties end the violence to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people and pave the way for a peacefully negotiated settlement,” Cheikh Ahmed said on Monday in a statement concluding his two-day visit to the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
He said that the warring parties had to prepare an “elaborated plan on security, withdrawal and handover of medium and heavy weapons.”
“What we need at this stage is more than words, what we need is commitment and results. Delays in providing the plan will result in delays to achieving peace and allow for more deaths and further economic and humanitarian deterioration,” the UN envoy added.
Since 2014, Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war between the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shia Houthi rebels backed by supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis.