Yemen foreign minister and US envoy stress importance of end to Taez siege

Yemen's third largest city is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis

Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, Minister for Foreign and Expatriates Affairs, Yemen, talks to Italian journalist Maria Cuffaro during conversation titled "The Future of Yemen" during the 7th MED Conference 20Show more

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak met US envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking on Sunday to discuss the siege of the city of Taez and efforts to renew a ceasefire that began in April but is scheduled to expire in August.

Mr Mubarak said his government had “exerted efforts to achieve peace in Yemen. I reiterated the centrality of the besieged Taez issue. I explained that Taez can’t be left behind and the Houthis must end their atrocities against the populated city,” he said.

His remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US would welcome a new UN effort for “meaningful Houthi action to allow access to Taez” at a meeting with Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Taez, Yemen’s third largest city, has been the focus of heavy fighting since 2015 and is now besieged.

Houthi rebels said last month that they would allow humanitarian access to the city along two roads, but Yemeni government officials said the move was mostly symbolic and not sufficient to ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of residents.

Last week, the US mission to the UN said that opening roads to the city was essential to “allow tens of thousands of civilians to access basic goods and to see loved ones”.

“It will help pave the way for a more comprehensive and durable agreement,” the US said.

But the ceasefire is increasingly in doubt after the Houthis hinted on Sunday that they would not agree to extend a truce in the seven-year war, saying they would “reject” any outcome of US President Joe Biden’s meetings with officials in Saudi Arabia last week.

The White House in a statement said that Saudi Arabia had committed to extending and strengthening a UN-mediated truce in Yemen and will engage in talks to end the war.

All sides agreed to a two-month truce in April, renewing the arrangement for a further two in June.