The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, warned the UN Security Council on Thursday that continuous fighting between warring sides in Yemen risks a return to full-scale conflict. While Grundberg noted that the levels of violence remain below pre-2022 truce levels, the escalation in military activities and rhetoric is of significant concern.
Grundberg emphasized that recent clashes in Yemen’s cities, including Al Hudaydah, Shabwa, and Lahj, have resulted in unnecessary loss of life. Additionally, Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea pose a direct threat to regional stability.
The economic conditions for the majority of Yemenis continue to decline sharply. Grundberg pointed out the disproportionate impact of natural disasters, such as severe flooding in Al Hudaydah and Hajjah, on vulnerable communities. Supporting these claims, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya also emphasized the country’s economic hardships, noting that 62 percent of households lack sufficient food and over 600,000 children are acutely malnourished.
Grundberg advocated for the depoliticization of Yemen’s economy and stressed the importance of collaboration across conflict lines to resolve the conflict. “I must stress that positive signals alone are insufficient. We expect that priority be given to the Yemeni people and that positive signals be followed by concrete actions that contribute to de-escalation and the advancement of peace,” he stated.
On July 8, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to extend the mandate of the UN Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA), which continues monitoring the ceasefire agreement in Al Hudaydah Governorate until July 14, 2025.
According to UN data, Yemen faces a severe humanitarian and political crisis, with 80 percent of the population needing humanitarian aid and protection. Since the start of the civil war, three million people have been displaced, and the collapse of sanitary and economic institutions has led to one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.
Further exacerbating the dire conditions, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned in August that acute malnutrition is accelerating among children, making famine a real possibility in some Yemeni government-controlled areas. The IPC estimates that 609,808 children under five and 222,918 pregnant or breastfeeding women will be acutely malnourished by the end of the year.