Yemen warring parties agree to implement new ceasefire: UN
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A UN envoy for Yemen has announced that meetings with parties in Saudi Arabia and Oman have led to the commitment to a set of measures to implement a nationwide ceasefire.
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Tribesmen loyal to the Sanaa government hold up their weapons as they attend a gathering to show their support for the Yemeni revolution, Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018 (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Yemen's warring parties have agreed to a fresh truce and to participate in a UN-led peace process to end the war, according to the UN envoy for Yemen on Saturday.
Yemen has been subjected to a war launched by a US-Saudi-led coalition, which killed over 48,000 civilians, since 2014.
After several meetings with the parties in Saudi Arabia and Oman, UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg's office issued a statement saying he "welcomes the parties' commitment to a set of measures to implement a nationwide ceasefire... and (to) engage in preparations for the resumption of an inclusive political process under UN auspices."
The statement detailed that the envoy "will now engage with the parties to establish a road map under UN auspices that includes these commitments and supports their implementation," which include vows to pay government officials' wages, unblock roads into the blockaded city of Taez and other regions of Yemen, and begin oil shipments.
Grundberg expressed that "Yemenis are watching and waiting for this new opportunity to provide for tangible results and progress towards lasting peace," adding that the commitments made by the parties are "first and foremost, an obligation to the Yemeni people."
US attempting to hurdle Yemen's peace process
This follows a Guardian report that the US has reportedly stepped in again to hurdle Yemen's peace process.
The British newspaper, citing unnamed diplomats, said that the US has threatened the Sanaa government that its negotiated peace plan with Saudi Arabia, which has been handed to the UN peace envoy, will fail if the Yemeni Armed Forces' (YAF) attacks on ships heading to "Israel" continue.
After a brutal 9-year war on Yemen, which is still ongoing, a three-phase peace plan has been negotiated between the Sanaa government and Riyadh, according to The Guardian.
Washington, however, is threatening to designate the Ansar Allah movement as a terrorist organization which would halt the application of this plan, according to the diplomats cited by the British newspaper. Although successive US administrations have led an onslaught on Resistance factions in the region, no US administration has taken such measures against the Yemeni Resistance movement.
According to a recent report released by the New York Times, the Biden administration is considering relaxing restrictions on formerly embargoed weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
This potential shift in weapon-sales policy to the Kingdom coincides with rising tensions on the Western coast of the Arabian peninsula, with the US moves against Yemen: mobilizing an international naval coalition so that "Israel" would not be pressured by Yemeni operations against Israeli and "Israel"-bound ships in the Red Sea.
President Biden had implemented a ban on the sale of certain weapons to Saudi Arabia two years ago, to present the semblance of keeping a distance from the atrocities being executed by the Saudi-led coalition against Yemeni civilians.
