Credit: Wikipedia Commons / U.S. Defense Department  /   Yemen President Abd Rabuh Mansur Hadi listens as Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel welcomes him to the Pentagon July 30, 2013

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS –  NEW  YORK –  Yemen’s President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi called on the United Nations Security Council to condemn an airstrike allegedly committed by the United Arab Emirates Thursday against its troops that killed at least 30 soldiers and wounded 150.  The bombing occurred in the southern city Aden in the Yemen nation located in the Arabian peninsula. According to the NY Times,  President Hadi issued a statement Thursday calling on the UN Security Council to condemn the bombing.   Florencia Soto Nino, Associate Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated Friday that she had not seen the letter reportedly sent by the  Yemeni government to the Security Council as well as Gueterres. 

“What I can tell you is that the situation in Aden…remains extremely tense and of great concern, and there’s a pressing need to find a political solution for the overall situation there.  The Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, is in touch with all the relevant parties to call for calm restraint and commitment to the Saudi‑led mediation efforts that are happening there.  The UN does not have any direct involvement in those mediation efforts.  However, there are outcomes important for resolving the situation in Aden and for the UN‑led peace process.”

-Florencia Soto Nino, Associate Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said.

Yemen Bloody Conflict Must End Now: UN Envoy

Credit:  osesgy.unmissions.org / The Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths

Recent infighting around the Government stronghold of Aden were “a clear sign” that the bloody conflict in Yemen must be brought to a swift, peaceful end,  the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths told the Security Council last Tuesday.   The UN envoy also warned  that fragmentation Of Yemen risks expanding humanitarian crisis in the nation located in southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.  In 2015, Saudi Arabia initiated a bombing campaign against its southern neighbor Yemen in what was essentially a proxy war — the Saudis backed a government that had been forced out of the capital by the Houthis, a group allied with Iran. The war in Yemen continues — in part with bombs the Saudi-led coalition of countries bought from the U.S.  From 7 to 10 August 2019, fighting between southern separatists and Yemeni government troops, who have been nominally allied as part of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition against the Houthi rebel group, resulted in separatists taking control of Aden, Yemen’s interim capital since 2015. Tensions had been building since 1 August when a ballistic missile reportedly fired by the Houthis struck the al-Galaa base in Aden during a military parade of the Security Belt, a southern militia trained and paid by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to sources.