Russia-initiated draft resolution on Yemen remains on UN Security Council agenda - Russian diplomat

UNITED NATIONS, April 6. /TASS/. A Russia-initiated draft resolution calling for humanitarian pauses in airstrikes to help evacuate foreigners from war-gripped Yemen is still on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council, Vladimir Safronkov, a deputy Russian Permanent Representative at the United Nations, told journalists on Monday. "The negotiating process continues. It is a normal thing within the United Nations. Russia reiterated today - both at a meeting with ambassadors from the Gulf states and at the Security Council - that the Russian draft demanding regular and obligatory humanitarian pauses is still on the Security Council’s table," he said, adding that Russia was waiting for a response to its initiative from member countries of the United Nations Security Council. On April 4, Russia proposed a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that called for establishing "regular and obligatory" pauses in military actions in Yemen for evacuating people and ensuring "safe and unhampered humanitarian access" to provide assistance to people. Another draft resolution was proposed by the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. It envisages an embargo on arms supplies to Houthi rebels and expresses support for the military operation against them. On Sunday, a diplomat from a Western member country of the United Nations Security Council told TASS that the Security Council was looking at converging the two drafts into a single document, which may be voted in the middle of the current week. The Russian diplomat however did not anticipate the date of voting. "We must travel a certain path to reach accord. It will take some time," he noted. Since August 2014, Yemen has been suffering from a severe political and security crisis. In late January, the armed groups of Ansar Allah /Houthi rebels/ forced the president and the government to announce resignation. The situation began to aggravate at the end of March. After the rebels took control of the country’s capital and several northern provinces, Yemen’s President Abd Rabuh Mansur Hadi fled the country. They also announced the adoption of the so-called constitutional declaration. Overnight to March 26, Saudi Arabia’s air force supported by aviation of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates launched an operation Decisive Storm against the Houthis . Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan joined the Saudi-led coalition. Read more