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UN envoy says Yemen's military escalation facilitating terrorism

Xinhua, September 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Wednesday told the Security Council that the current military escalation in Yemen is facilitating the expansion of terrorist groups.

"Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) continue to wreak havoc in significant parts of Yemen," said Ould Cheikh Ahmed, adding that the absence of the state in many parts of the country will fuel the spread of terrorism.

On Monday, a suicide bombing that targeted an army recruiting compound in Yemen's southern port city of Aden has left at least 65 people killed and 55 injured. The IS has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed noted that the dangerous escalation in military activities has followed the collapse of the UN-sponsored peace talks in host Kuwait, which aimed to end the country's 18 months of fighting.

Since then, fighting escalated between foes inside Yemen and on the southern borders with Saudi Arabia. UN statistics show that the number of internally displaced persons has risen to over 3 million.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed said though the talks did not yield an agreement, the architecture of a roadmap had emerged, which would be expanded upon in the coming weeks and both parties had agreed to continue consultations separately and to reconvene direct talks at a later stage.

Therefore, he called on all parties to resume cessation of hostilities at this moment and accelerate the path to renewed talks.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active insurgencies in the Middle East.

Militant extremists took advantage of the current security vacuum and the ongoing civil war to expand its influence and seize more territories in southern Yemen.

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 6,400 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians. Enditem