Hans Grundberg, UN Special Envoy for Yemen, holds a press conference on June 8, 2022 in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. ALAA MOHAMMAD AFP SANAA UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg announced on Sunday that no agreement has been reached between the Yemeni warring parties.
An extended and expanded truce would provide additional critical benefits to the population, as the UN Special Envoy regrets that an agreement has not been reached today, his office said in a statement.
I appreciate the position of the Government of Yemen on engaging positively with my proposal. Grundberg was quoted as saying that "I will continue to work with both sides to try and find solutions."
He said that the proposal submitted to the warring parties on Saturday includes the extension of the truce for another six months, the salary and pension payment for civil servants, and the opening of specific roads into the besieged government-controlled city of Taiz and other provinces.
It also includes additional destinations for flights to and from the Houthi-controlled airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and unhindered entry of fuel ships into the Red Sea port of Hodeidah held by the Houthis.
Thousands of civil servants in the Houthi-controlled cities have not been paid for more than seven years.
According to state media outlets, the Yemeni government has agreed to the UN proposal and welcomed the United Nations' efforts to end the civil war in Yemen.
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In the morning, Yemen's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak told Xinhua that his government already sent Grundberg its approval for the extension agreement.
The proposal on Saturday has reflected the main terms that the Houthis have been demanding since the truce began on April 2, but they have yet to make a statement about why they rejected the UN proposal, and claimed that the government side did not remain committed to the previous six months of the truce, threatening to launch cross-border missile attacks on the oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Houthi Armed Forces give the oil companies operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia an opportunity to arrange their status and leave, according to a statement aired by the Houthi-run Al -Masirah TV minutes after Grundberg announces the truce extension failure on the UN website.
The truce has reached a dead end, the Houthi military spokesman said.
The resumption of commercial flights to and from Sanaa Airport and entry of fuel ships into the Hodeidah port are some of the things that have been made in the past six months of the truce. The siege on Taiz city has not been lifted yet.
On April 2, the Yemeni government and the Houthis agreed on a two-month truce brokered by the United Nations. The truce was renewed twice through October 2.
Since late 2014, Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war when the Iran-backed Houthi militia took control of several northern cities and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of Sanaa.