The UN special envoy has called the ceasefire in Yemen “a first step in Yemen’s return to peace”, as the truce in place since Sunday midnight seems to be mostly holding.
Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the Shia Houthi rebels who drove his government out of the capital, and the Arab-led coalition that intervened in Yemen last year all pledged to honour the truce after it took effect.
“This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives,” Ahmed Ismail Ould Cheikh, the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, said in a statement on Monday.
Previous efforts to stop the fighting in Yemen – which has left more than 6,000 dead and forced more than two million people from their homes – have collapsed amid mutual recriminations.
Sporadic clashes and exchange of gunfire, however, were reported in other parts of the country, including the besieged city of Taiz where one person was killed and five wounded in shelling.
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Image courtesy of AFP
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