UN: 'Yemen has no time to waste' – Special Envoy Griffiths

W/S Security Council meeting, New York City
M/S UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley taking seat
M/S Yemen’s ambassador taking seat
M/S Council’s president speaking
SOT, Martin Griffiths, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen: "Progress in Hodeida will allow the parties to work together, whether on tripartite monitoring, collection of revenues, or on common assessments of possible ceasefire violations. My hope, of course, is that progress in Hodeida will finally allow us to focus on the political process and I hope that we will see this before the end of this summer. Yemen, indeed, as we have observed before, has no time to waste."
M/S Lowcock and Beasley *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Martin Griffiths, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen: "And although the Hodeidah ceasefire broadly continues to hold, remarkably, military operations as we have been frequently reminded, have continued on several other frontlines, as well as on Yemen’s border to the North with Saudi Arabia. I am particularly alarmed by the continued attacks by Ansar Allah on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia."
W/S Meeting in progress *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: "Conditions for most people in Yemen are getting worse, not better. And if the current trajectory continues, we should all expect that they will continue to get worse. The fighting rages on. Since June, 120,000 more people have fled their homes, bringing total displacement this year to more than 300,000 people - on top, of course, of the millions forced to flee in earlier years."
W/S Meeting in progress *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: "But those who made the largest pledges - Yemen’s neighbours in the Coalition - have so far paid only a modest proportion of what they promised. And as a result, the response plan is currently just 34 percent funded, compared, as I said, to 60 percent this time last year."
W/S Meeting in progress *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: "So far this year, nearly 500,000 cases of cholera have been reported. We have received reports so far of more than 700 deaths as a result, including more than 200 children. The death toll will surely grow."
W/S Meeting in progress *CUTAWAY*
SOT, David Beasley, Executive Director of World Food Programme (WFP): "Around 30 million people live in Yemen, and more than two-thirds of them are food insecure. That’s 20 million people. Twenty million little boys and girls and men and women. Ten million of them are severely food insecure – they don’t know where their next meal will come from, as they march towards starvation. Every day, Yemenis are making impossible choices, just to survive."
C/U Yemen’s ambassador *CUTAWAY*
SOT, David Beasley, Executive Director of World Food Programme (WFP): "Not a day has gone by where I have not thought of the impact that suspending food assistance may have. To the people in Sanaa City, and through all of Yemen, I am so sorry you are having to go through this. But let me add - despite the suspension - we have increased, as Mark said, the number of people who we have been reached, from 10.6 million to 11.3 million, and we are continuing to scale up. In fact we expect to reach over 12 million by the end of this month."
W/S Security Council
SCRIPT
Despite the ceasefire being upheld in the port city of Hodeidah, only a political process could resolve the Yemeni crisis, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said addressing the Security Council via video link, in New York City on Thursday.
"Yemen, indeed, as we have observed before, has no time to waste," said the Special Envoy who warned against the continued military operations on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia by Ansar Allah.
Later, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley briefed the Security Council on the worsening humanitarian conditions in Yemen.
"Since June, 120,000 more people have fled their homes, bringing total displacement this year to more than 300,000 people," said Lowcock who added hundreds had died due to cholera outbreak.
Beasley on his part touched upon on the subject of millions starving as a result of the conflict saying, "They don’t know where their next meal will come from, as they march towards starvation."
The conflict in Yemen, which began in 2015 between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed Hadi government, has killed tens of thousands and left the country's economy in ruins. According to recent UN reports, almost 80 per cent of the Yemeni population – some 24 million people – are in need of assistance and protection, with millions facing starvation.