I had been trying to watch the noon press briefing for the last two days, but whenever I would access the website at noon EST to watch, some other meeting would be taking place. This noon EST, instead of the press briefing, a Security Council meeting was in the middle of taking place to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. During the meeting, representatives from Germany, South Africa, and Yemen commented on the crisis and offered their expert opinions. The current president of the Security Council, a representative of the Russian Federation, was moderating the meeting.
The moderator, through a translator, discussed how humanitarian assistance has been offered to Yemen with some issues. She spoke about Russia offering assistance to Yemen as well as the highly valued role the Red Cross has been playing in aiding Yemenis citizens affected by the conflict. The moderator also urged the international community to seek peace in the middle east and object from blaming the instability in Yemen to one side alone.
After the moderator spoke, a representative from Yemen offered his insight and opinion on the humanitarian crisis. The Yemenis representative argued, through a translator, that the Yemenis government continues to try to end the war against the Yemenis people and has been trying to since 2014. He said that, “peace is an irreversible option.” Along with the help of the UN Special Envoy, Mr. Griffiths, and a joint declaration between the two parties, the country hopes to achieve this goal of peace. The Yemenis representative said that Yemen welcomes the call for a ceasefire and for the political process to resume. He said that the militia groups do not believe in peace and expressed discontent with the Stockholm agreement. He said that a specific party––possibly the militias, however, I did not catch the party name nor reference––continues to violate the ceasefire, plant mines, and steal humanitarian aid. The representative said that the government wants to put an end to the militias. The pandemic has only aggravated the humanitarian crisis and he calls on the international community to support the government’s efforts in addressing the crisis. He asked the council to spare Yemen and for countries to stop using the issue for “political blackmail.”
The above has only been fact-checked for names and titles. I am just reiterating what I heard said during the Security Council meeting.