Nigeria Seeks Extension Of Ceasefire In Yemen

Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York has urged all the warring parties in Yemen to urgently agree on the extension of ceasefire in order to ensure permanent peace in the country.
Making this call in a statement obtained by our correspondent yesterday after the Security Council’s briefing on the situation in Yemen, the Nigerian ambassador to the United Nations, Prof. Joy Uche Ogwu, said Nigeria is concerned that the ceasefire extension had not been agreed, stressing that it would have been the most effective confidence-building measure.
She called on the warring parties to make the ceasefire permanent and expressed regret over the numerous ceasefire violations, saying it was enough to have a ceasefire and the parties must refrain from violating it.
Ogwu said: “Nigeria looks forward to the resumption of talks in January and hopes it would produce an outcome that would end the conflict.”
The Nigerian official also said the fact that the Yemeni government and the Houthis had engaged in discussions was encouraging, and welcomed in that regard the agreement reached in Switzerland on a broad framework that could provide a basis for ending the conflict in the country.
Also briefing the Council, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft of the United Kingdom noted that, had members of the Council been Yemeni, 12 of them would have needed humanitarian assistance and four would have required immediate food assistance.
However, there were signs of hope, he said, as he welcomed the parties’ presence at the negotiating table, and called for the ceasefire needed to be extended beyond December, just as he asserted that all sides to the conflict must respect it and fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law.
In his own address, Mr. Mahamat Zene of Chad said he was concerned about the worsening humanitarian and security situation in Yemen, describing the price paid in human lives as atrocious. He added that the situation was further compounded by the destruction of infrastructure and the lack of social services.
Without a political prospect, the conflict might pose a risk of regional conflict and provide fertile ground for terrorists, he warned, adding that the international community and countries in the region must prioritize the creation of conditions conducive to dialogue.
Speaking in her national capacity, the US Ambassador to the UN and Council’s rotational president for December, Ms. Samantha Power, said that the Council was united in support of Yemen and the efforts of the Special Envoy who had facilitated the resumption of peace talks.
She promised that the United States would work with other Council members to hold all sides to their commitments, adding that the Council was also united on a vision of what should happen next: all sides must do more to facilitate access for life-saving assistance and shipments of basic commercial goods.