Yemen: Briefing and Consultations
Tomorrow morning (23 July), the Security Council will hold its regular monthly open briefing and closed consultations on Yemen. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya are expected to brief in the public session. The head of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), Major General Michael Beary, will brief in consultations.
Earlier today (22 July), the Council held an open briefing under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item to discuss developments related to the 19 July drone attack targeting the city of Tel Aviv, Israel, claimed by the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. On 20 July, Israel conducted retaliatory strikes in and around the Hodeidah Port in Yemen. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and Beary briefed at today’s meeting. (For background, see our 22 July What’s in Blue story.)
Although the focus of tomorrow’s meeting is internal developments related to the file, the effects on Yemen of regional tensions are also likely to be addressed. Mediation efforts to develop a UN roadmap for an inter-Yemeni peace process have been frozen for months in light of the Houthis’ ongoing attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, which the group has threatened to continue until Israel ends its military campaign in Gaza, that followed the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel. In her remarks today, DiCarlo said that the “fragile gains” from the truce that the UN has brokered in Yemen in 2022 “are being eclipsed by violent escalation in the region”.
Tomorrow, Council members are likely to reiterate key messages conveyed at today’s meeting. These include calling on the Houthis and Israel to avoid an ongoing cycle of retaliation; to prioritise dialogue; and to respect international humanitarian law, including its prohibition on attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. At today’s meeting, the P3 members (France, the UK, and the US) criticised the Houthis’ destabilising actions, while Council members such as Algeria, China, and Russia emphasised that ending the conflict in Gaza is critical for resolving the crisis in the Red Sea and preventing further regional escalation. The US said that it believes that “it may soon be time for this Council to consider additional actions to respond to the growing threats from the Houthis”.
Many Council members called on member states to comply with Council resolutions on Yemen, including resolution 2216 of 14 April 2015 which imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis. Ambassador Joonkook Hwang (Republic of Korea), who chairs the 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee, emphasised the important role that the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM) plays in ensuring compliance with the arms embargo. He also expressed concern about the increase in recent months in the number of vessels that had entered the Hodeidah Port without having been inspected by UNVIM.
Members are likely to be interested in learning more from Msuya about the possible humanitarian consequences of the Israeli airstrikes in and around Hodeidah Port. DiCarlo noted today that the extent of the damage to the port has yet to be confirmed, adding that local authorities have reported that the port is functioning at a limited capacity. She emphasised the importance of the port remaining open and operating, noting that it serves as “a lifeline for millions of people in Yemen”, as the country relies heavily on imports of food, medicine, and fuel—the majority of which arrive through Hodeidah.
Another expected key focus of tomorrow’s meeting is the Houthis’ detention, since June, of 13 Yemeni national staff belonging to several UN agencies and offices, as well as of personnel of other aid organisations and civil society. Ahead of the Council’s latest meeting on Yemen, held on 13 June, UK Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward read a statement at the stakeout on behalf of 11 Council members, Yemen, 27 other member states, and the EU, which condemned the latest detentions and demanded the release of those detained. The UK (the penholder on Yemen) had proposed a press statement on the issue but was unable to secure consensus due to opposition from China and Russia, who contended that there was a need for additional information, among other matters. (For more information, see the brief on Yemen in our July 2024 Monthly Forecast.)
At tomorrow’s meeting, many Council members are expected to call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Yemeni national staff detained by the Houthis. They are also likely to seek an update from the briefers about UN efforts to secure the staff members’ release. Today, DiCarlo said that the Secretary-General and other senior UN officials “continue to work through all possible channels” to that end. In a letter addressed to the Security Council and the Secretary-General that was posted on social media on 18 July, Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak urged the UN to take stronger measures to secure the release of the detained personnel, such as considering the gradual suspension of humanitarian operations in Houthi-controlled areas.
There are also likely to be strong expressions of concern about the intensification in economic measures employed by the Houthis and the Yemeni government against one another. On 7 July, the government-controlled Central Bank of Yemen revoked the licenses of six Yemeni banks for failing to relocate their offices from the Houthi-held city of Sana’a to Aden. Briefing at the Council’s June Yemen meeting, Director of OCHA’s Operations and Advocacy Division Edem Wosornu warned that this move, which would exclude these banks from using the SWIFT banking system, could have “catastrophic ramifications” on Yemen’s already struggling economy, including by undermining the private sector’s ability to conduct financial transactions to import food and other essential goods. Tomorrow, Grundberg may report on his office’s efforts to persuade the sides to de-escalate and avoid Yemen’s further economic fracturing. The Special Envoy noted at last month’s Council meeting that the sides had yet to respond to his invitation to mediate talks to resolve the economic tensions.
Msuya is expected to apprise the Council of the difficult humanitarian situation in the country. A World Food Programme report published on 1 July noted that, in May, the share of households with inadequate consumption of food in Yemen rose to the unprecedented level of 58 percent nationwide. The report said that the primary drivers of this crisis are worsening economic conditions in the government-controlled south and the prolonged pause in food assistance in the Houthi-controlled north since December 2023 caused by limited funding and the absence of an agreement with the authorities on a smaller programme.
Grundberg may also update Council members on the latest meeting of the Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Detainees’ Agreement, held on 6 July in Oman. The committee, which is co-chaired by the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), convenes negotiation delegations from Yemeni parties to support them in fulfilling their obligations to release all conflict-related detainees in line with the 2018 Stockholm Agreement. According to a statement by the Office of the Special Envoy, the talks led to a “significant breakthrough”, with the sides reaching an understanding on releasing Mohamed Qahtan—a political leader aligned with the Yemeni government who has been held incommunicado by the Houthis since 2015—which has been an issue of contention for years. The statement added that the sides had agreed to a follow-up meeting to finalise the list of detainees to be freed and the details of Qahtan’s release.
