Yemen continues to be ravaged by an eight-year-long conflict between the country’s Saudi-allied government and the Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran. A recent ceasefire expired on the 2nd of October 2022, but according to UN special envoy Hans Grundberg, a new truce may be at hand.
Summarizing the situation on the ground during a speech at the UN Security Council on January 16th, Grundberg said that
The overall military situation in Yemen has remained stable … There has been no major escalation nor changes in the disposition on the front lines … However we continue to see some military activity in particular along the front lines … these military activities have regrettably, also resulted in civilian casualties.
A new truce would be a step towards implementing UN peace measures, which include payments for public sector employees.
This is controversial, however. So far as Houthi-controlled areas are concerned, the Yemeni government wants payments to only be made to civil servants who were employed in the public sector prior to the Houthi takeover. Thus, anyone employed by Houthi authorities, after the government was ousted from these areas, would go without payment. The Houthi authorities want payments to include their own new hires.
It remains to be seen whether this will be resolved, if a truce will be negotiated and, ultimately, if stability will return to Yemen.
