UN chief ‘disappointed’ over Yemen truce failure
Spokesman for UN head says aid deliveries proceed despite continued hostilities.
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he is “very much disappointed” that a UN brokered humanitarian pause in fighting in Yemen did not take hold over the weekend, his spokesman said.
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UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.on Monday that the continued hostilities had not stopped scheduled aid deliveries to the war-stricken nation.
“Despite the continued air strikes, despite the fighting, our humanitarian colleagues and their partners were able to distribute some vital aid to the desperate people of Yemen,” Dujarric said.
A week-long pause in fighting was meant to have started on Saturday to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered, but the Arab coalition carrying out air raids said it had not been asked by Yemen’s exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in whose name it is acting, to stop the three-month long bombing campaign.
Ban’s comments came as air strikes by the Arab forces hit the Sawan neighbourhood in eastern Sanaa, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Smoke billowed from the slum area, which lies hundreds of meters (yards) from a military camp used by the rebels.
Air strikes and ground fighting in Yemen have continued for the third day despite a UN-brokered truce between the rebels and the internationally-backed government in exile and its allies.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the airstrikes began in March.