Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of failing to reopen roads to the besieged city of Taiz, which is a key element of the major truce agreement between the two sides.
Yemen’s warring parties have traded accusations of non-compliance with the two-month truce, brokered by the United Nations. The parties last week agreed to renew it for a further two months.
They are under international pressure to agree on extended and expanded deals that could build on the longest stretch yet of relative calm to be seen yet in the seven-year ongoing conflict.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak supported any move to expand the truce to lasting peace.
“There is a main issue in the truce terms that have not been abided by completely which is opening roads on the besieged cities of Taiz and other provinces,” the minister said.
The Houthis have in turn accused the government of failing to deliver an agreed number of fuel ships into the port city of Hodeidah and allow a quota of flights to leave and land at Sanaa, both of which are held by the group.
Yemen has been scared by the war for nearly a decade. Last week, the truce was extended for another two months. The extension includes a commitment by both sides to intensify their negotiations in order to reach an expanded agreement.
The United Nations Special Envoy for the country, Hans Grundberg, thanked the leadership of both sides for agreeing to the extension, and for their continued constructive engagements.
“I count on the continued cooperation of the parties to meet their commitments and implement all elements of the truce and to negotiate in good faith to reach an expanded truce agreement, and to put Yemen on a path to sustainable peace. The Yemeni people deserve no less,” he said in a statement.
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