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The Saudi-led coalition has extended a unilateral ceasefire in Yemen for a month to support efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, even as fighting continues in the war-torn country.
The move came on Friday, after Yemen’s Houthi rebels, aligned with Iran, rejected a two-week ceasefire declared by the military coalition that ended Thursday.
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The coalition has decided to “extend the ceasefire for one month from Thursday,” said its spokesman Turki al-Maliki, according to the Saudi state press agency (SPA).
“The coalition reaffirms that there is still an opportunity to focus all efforts to achieve a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Yemen,” he added.
Violence has continued in several provinces during the two-week unilateral ceasefire, raising fears that the war will continue and destroy Yemen’s already weakened ability to fight the coronavirus.
Rebel demands
The Houthis want a lift of coalition-imposed air and sea blockades on the regions they control before agreeing to a ceasefire, the Reuters News Agency reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month called for a cease-fire in conflicts around the world to allow countries to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Yemen has reported a case of the new coronavirus, aid groups fear a catastrophic outbreak if the virus spreads among an acutely malnourished population in a country without adequate testing capabilities.
Yemen has been in conflict since the Houthi rebel group ousted the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from the capital Sanaa in late 2014.
A 2015 Saudi-led military coalition intervened in an attempt to restore the government.
The conflict has brought Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, to the brink of famine and has devastated the country’s health facilities.
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