Statement by the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen, during his visit to Hudaydah “The Attention of the World is on Hudaydah”

Photo credit:Giles Clarke for UNOCHA

23 Nov 2018

Statement by the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen, during his visit to Hudaydah “The Attention of the World is on Hudaydah”

I arrived earlier this morning from Sana’a and have received a very warm welcome from senior representatives here. I am very grateful to them for organizing this visit.

The attention of the world is on Hudaydah. Leaders from every country have called for us all to keep the peace in Hudaydah. I have come here today with my good friends and colleagues, the Humanitarian Coordinator, Lise Grande and The World Food Programme Country Director of Yemen, Stephen Anderson to learn first-hand how we can help to keep that international pledge to protect the people of Hudaydah from further devastation.

I welcome the recent calls for a halt in the fighting in Hudaydah. This is an essential step if we are to protect the lives of civilians and build confidence among the parties. As you know I plan and hope to bring the parties together in Sweden very soon for political consultations.

I had the privilege of meeting yesterday in Sana’a with the Ansarallah leadership. Among other things, we talked about how the UN could contribute to keeping the peace in Hudaydah, and I am here to tell you today that we have agreed that the UN should now pursue actively and urgently detailed negotiations for a leading UN role in the Port and more broadly. We believe that such a role will preserve the essential humanitarian pipeline that starts here and serves the people of Yemen. We hope that it will also contribute to international efforts to increase the capacity and effectiveness of port operations.