Ban strongly encouraged ending immediately the interruptions in the import of fuel, food and medicines, in a statement delivered on his behalf by his Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, on Monday in Saudi Arabia at the Riyadh Conference on the situation in the country.
“Yemenis have faced tragic levels of suffering and violence in recent months. The humanitarian pause is important to give them time to seek medical assistance and for much-needed basic goods to flow into the country. This pause must now become a permanent ceasefire and mark an end to all hostilities,” he declared.
In order to allow the UN to provide much-needed humanitarian assistance, Ban reiterated his call on all parties to ensure that humanitarian agencies and their partners have safe and reliable access throughout the country.
“We have seen how the humanitarian pause has provided a ray of hope and badly needed aid to the people of Yemen. In this spirit, I call on all sides to renew their commitment to the humanitarian pause for another 5-day period,” he added.
The Secretary-General said that he is strongly determined to intensify his good offices and he intends to convene in the near future an inclusive and widely representative conference that will restart a Yemeni-Yemeni peace process in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions.
According to UN spokesperson Farhan Haq, while in Riyadh, Ould Cheikh Ahmed met with Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, Vice-President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and many Yemeni political leaders, as well as the ambassadors of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.