What's In Blue

Posted Tue 14 Jan 2025
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Yemen: Briefing and Consultations

Tomorrow morning (15 January), the Security Council will hold its monthly open briefing and closed consultations on Yemen. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya will brief in the open chamber. Head of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) Major General Michael Beary is expected to provide his final briefing to the Council in closed consultations.

Tomorrow’s session is the Security Council’s first meeting on Yemen in 2025. The Council last discussed developments related to Yemen in a 30 December 2024 meeting under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item, which focused on the escalation of direct conflict between the Houthi rebel group in Yemen and Israel. The session was convened following a letter from Israel requesting an emergency meeting to address multiple ballistic missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis at Israel between 20 and 23 December 2024. (For more information, see our 29 December 2024 What’s in Blue story.)

Since that meeting, attacks have continued between Israel and the Houthis. These include a 9 January Houthi assault involving three drones that Israel intercepted. On 10 January, Israel launched several airstrikes on three Houthi targets in Yemen, namely the Hodeidah and Ras Isa ports and the Hezyaz power plant near Sana’a, with the Israeli military claiming that the power plant served as a main source of energy for the Houthi’s military activities. On 13 January, the Houthis launched two subsequent ballistic missiles at Israel, both of which were intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems.

At tomorrow’s meeting, the briefers and some Council members are likely to refer to these ongoing hostilities as a source of further instability for Yemen and the wider region, while calling for de-escalation. They are also likely to highlight the need for respect of international law, international humanitarian law (IHL), and the protection of civilian infrastructure.

This meeting presents the first opportunity for the Council’s five new elected members—Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia—to voice their positions on both the situation in Yemen and the crisis in the Red Sea. A number of these Council members place significant importance on maritime security. Vessels owned or operated by companies from Denmark, Greece, and Panama have been attacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea, making this an issue of interest to these members. Greece also serves as the base of operations for Operation Aspides, a defensive military operation of the European Union (EU) which started in February 2024 in response to Houthi attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea.

Some Council members are likely to highlight the relationship between de-escalation in the Red Sea and the revival of the political process in Yemen under UN auspices. Grundberg may reiterate in this regard that developments in the Red Sea have shrunk the space for his mediation efforts and highlight the importance of national and regional de-escalation towards fostering an environment conducive to dialogue. Russia, on the other hand, may question the link between the regional escalation and the internal political process. It may note that the Houthis have recently claimed that they are ready to sign a roadmap for peace in Yemen.

The Special Envoy is expected to brief the Council on his recent visits to the region, namely to Sana’a (his first visit to the city since May 2023), Tehran, and Riyadh. He is likely to reiterate key messages from his engagements, particularly the importance of advancing towards a roadmap for peace and a Yemeni-owned political process and addressing the economic and humanitarian challenges facing the Yemeni people. Council members may take the opportunity to reiterate or to express their support for the Special Envoy’s efforts, while stressing the urgent need for Council unity on the matter.

Grundberg will also brief on his efforts to facilitate the release of more than 50 UN, non-governmental organisation (NGO), diplomatic mission, and civil society personnel detained by the Houthis since June 2024, which was apparently a major topic of discussion during his recent visits. Several Council members are likely to stress that over six months have elapsed since the detention of these individuals and call for their immediate and unconditional release.

Msuya is likely to provide an update on the impact that the latest escalations have had on the operating environment in Yemen. She may echo concerns raised by Secretary-General António Guterres about the potential impact of the Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah Port and Sana’a, including on their operational capacity for the importing of goods, with potential ramifications for humanitarian supplies, such as food and medicine, as well as essential commercial goods.

During the Council’s latest monthly meeting on Yemen, held on 11 December 2024, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher warned that the total number of people in need had increased since the start of 2024, from 18.2 to 19.5 million. Tomorrow, Msuya may highlight key humanitarian challenges which remain pervasive in Yemen, such as food insecurity. In a food security update published in December 2024, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that Yemen’s food security situation remained critically alarming, noting that “approximately 61 percent of surveyed households struggled to access sufficient food”. Msuya is also likely to voice strong concerns regarding the spread of cholera in the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that Yemen bears the highest burden of cholera globally—with 35 percent of global cholera cases and 18 percent of global cholera mortality—placing significant stress on an already struggling healthcare system.

Msuya may also inform Council members that the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Yemen is due to be released shortly and emphasise the need for continued funding for humanitarian efforts. Council members are likely to raise concerns regarding the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen, while calling for threats to humanitarian personnel and civilian infrastructure to cease, and for bolstered efforts to improve access to aid relief for the Yemeni population.

In the closed consultations, Beary is expected to cover the latest developments in UNMHA’s area of operations, including the situation in Hodeidah following the latest strikes. Given that it will be his final briefing as the head of UNMHA, he may also reflect on his time with the mission and the challenges it faces, while highlighting the overall value of UNMHA, including its importance for promoting stability in the area.

Tomorrow’s meeting is likely to demonstrate that the Yemen file continues to hold considerable common ground among Council members, particularly regarding support for an intra-Yemeni political process and the need to improve the humanitarian conditions in the country. However, it is also likely to illustrate that the continued attacks in the Red Sea and the escalation between Israel and the Houthis are negatively affecting Council dynamics on the file, as positions continue to diverge on the root causes of the hostilities and the obstacles for peace and political progress in Yemen. (For more information, see the brief on Yemen in our January 2025 Monthly Forecast.)

Given disagreements among Council members, some have opted to pursue options outside the Council to strengthen support for certain parties in Yemen. Tomorrow, the UK may note its intention to convene a ministerial meeting in cooperation with the government of Yemen, titled “International Support for the Government of Yemen”, which will take place at the UN headquarters on 20 January. It seems that member states will be encouraged to pledge financial and political support to the Yemeni government, including to promote its capacity to deliver good governance.

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