Aid to scale up in Yemen as cease-fire begins: UN

The humanitarian community welcomed the start of a cease-fire in Yemen and will scale up aid in areas where the cease-fire holds and where access has been previously difficult, a UN spokesman said here Monday.

A nationwide three-day polio vaccination campaign -- supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, and targeting 5 million children -- was successfully launched on Sunday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarrric said at a news briefing here.

"Health partners are prepared to deploy additional medical teams and supplies, including supplies for over 160,000 people in Taizz, Marib, and Al Jawf governorates, should the cessation hold," he said.

Water and sanitation partners also plan to rehabilitate water facilities in Sa'ada, which had been damaged in airstrikes, Dujarric said.

"UN calls on all parties to provide safe, unconditional, and sustained access to people in need across Yemen," he added.

The truce began Sunday midnight and is scheduled to last until the end of peace talks in Kuwait that are set to begin on April 18 between the warring Yemeni sides, in efforts sponsored by the United Nations to end nearly a year of deadly war.

Sunday's cessation of hostilities in Yemen is the fourth cease-fire since the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes in March 2015 to support the legitimate government of Yemen's internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Previous cease-fires have failed while negotiations collapsed, but analysts expect a more conducive atmosphere during the Kuwait talks next week.

The impoverished Arab country was plunged into violence in September 2014 when the Shiite Houthi group invaded the country's capital Sanaa, driving President Hadi into exile.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians. Enditem