Yemen will remain a powder keg for renewed war unless its warring sides work out a new truce deal, a United Nations official said on Monday.
Hans Grundberg, the U.N. special envoy to Yemen, indicated that the situation in the war-torn country is fragile, and the war renewal is a scenario that cannot be ruled out.
A UN-sponsored ceasefire in Yemen began in April and ended in October last year. Since then, the parties to the conflict have not agreed to renew the ceasefire. While hostilities have shrunk in 2022 and 2023, Grundberg warns that a resumption of all-out fighting is a threat.
He said, "The risk of a flare-up is always there. The situation remains fragile and will remain fragile until we have reached an agreement that offers a ceasefire agreement."
Early this week, deadly fighting broke out in Al-Hadd frontline of Lahj province between the Ansar Allah (Houthi) fighters and southern separatists. The combat left 14 soldiers dead on both sides, besides several injuries.
On Friday, August 25, local sources said shelling left 18 civilians dead and injured in Maqbana district of Taiz province. The government forces and the Houthi group accuse one another of the attack. These separate hostilities may expand, leading to the country's revival of an all-out war.
In 2014, Yemen plummeted into civil strife after the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group took over Sanaa and toppled the UN-recognized government in 2015. The war intensified when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened at the request of the Yemeni government.
Regional and international diplomacy has played a vital role in pushing the warring sides in Yemen to reach a ceasefire agreement last year. However, the war is set to persist if the local rivals are unwilling to offer concessions and begin a chapter of peace.
U.S. envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking said in a briefing to the U.S. Department of State'sDubai Global* Media Hub, "Only a Yemeni-Yemeni political agreement can durably resolve this civil conflict, and only a comprehensive recovery and reconstruction effort with strong support from regional as well as international donors can reverse the humanitarian and economic crises facing Yemenis every single day."
Lenderking said he visited the Middle East 30 times since his appointment as part of the U.S. effort to stop the war in Yemen. He indicated that the key decisions on peace rest with the conflict parties.
Today, Yemen is home to a massive humanitarian tragedy, with 21.6 million people needing humanitarian assistance, according to U.N. reports. The war has killed an estimated 377,000 people through direct and indirect causes and displaced over 4 million Yemenis.