US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on the head of the Presidential Leadership Council in Yemen, Rashad Al-Alimi, to seek to establish sustainable peace in the country, after positive indicators that the truce that began on April 2 between the warring parties in Yemen continued to appear.
Blinken announced - during a phone call with Al-Alimi - his support for the armistice between the warring parties in Yemen, and US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Blinken "stressed the need to take advantage of the momentum of these positive developments to ensure a sustainable armistice and launch a comprehensive peace process."
The UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced earlier this month that the Yemeni parties had agreed to a two-month, extendable truce, which began the next day, with a previous welcome from the Saudi-led coalition and government forces on one side and the Houthis on the other, after 7 years of war in Yemen.
The phone call between Blinken and Al-Alimi is the first of its kind since former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi handed over power on April 7 to the Presidential Council, which represents various political forces, at the conclusion of Yemeni consultations in Riyadh under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Blinken also urged progress on the reopening of roads to Taiz;
The third largest Yemeni city, and a key point in the armistice.
In a related context, the United Nations and the European Union welcomed the announcement of the date of the first commercial flight from Sanaa Airport in 6 years, to take off next Sunday, towards the Jordanian capital, Amman.
This came in a press conference by Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, coinciding with a separate statement issued by the European Union mission in Yemen.
It is noteworthy that Sanaa Airport has been closed to civilian flights by the Saudi-led coalition since 2016, after the Houthis were accused of using it for military purposes, which the group denies.
The Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority, which is under the control of the Houthi group, announced yesterday, Wednesday, that the operation of the first commercial flight to Sanaa International Airport will be next Sunday, and the announcement came 5 days after the legitimate Yemeni government announced that it had coordinated with the authorities of Egypt and Jordan to start flights through Sanaa Airport, which is under the control of the Houthis. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak.
A statement by the UN Special Envoy to Yemen read out by Dujarric confirmed that he will continue to work with the warring parties in Yemen to ensure that all terms of the UN-brokered two-month truce in Yemen are adhered to and to build on their momentum towards a sustainable political solution to the conflict.
restarting commercial flights through Sanaa Airport - two flights per week;
One for Egypt and the other for Jordan - one of the most prominent provisions of the armistice.
In its statement issued by its mission, the European Union thanked the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for its valuable support and the Yemeni government for its constructive cooperation.
It is noteworthy that Yemen has been witnessing a war since September 2014, after the Houthis rejected the path of democratic transition in the country and launched a war against the Yemeni government;
This led to their control over a number of Yemeni governorates;
This prompted the government of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to resort to Saudi Arabia, which led a coalition to restore the legitimate government to Yemen.