Yemen truce begins today, to last until end of Ramadan

An “unconditional humanitarian pause” has been declared in Yemen, according to the United Nations, which said that the violence from all parties should stop at midnight Friday.

“The Secretary-General looks forward to the commitments of all parties to the conflict in Yemen to an unconditional humanitarian pause to start on Friday, 10 July at 23:59 (GMT +3) until the end of Ramadan”.

Almost 100 people were killed on Monday in air strikes across Yemen, the Houthi-run state news agency reported, as a Saudi-led coalition stepped up attacks that are likely to weigh on efforts to broker a humanitarian truce.

“We have come up with some “cautious optimism” after our third visit to Sanaa”, Saba news agency quoted Ould Cheikh Ahmed as saying.

Another one million civilians have been displaced by the conflict and more than 80% of Yemen’s 25 million people now need some form of humanitarian aid.

Ban had repeatedly called for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow badly needed aid to be delivered to civilians suffering from the air war and the rebel offensives.

Hadi’s government told the United Nations on Wednesday it would agree to a humanitarian truce provided key guarantees were met, government spokesman Rajeh Badi told Reuters by phone.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthi movement, which views its takeover of Sanaa last September, and of much of the Arabian Peninsula country since, as a revolution against a corrupt government backed by the West.

Soldiers loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi stand near their vehicle at an army post in al-Abr on Yemen’s northeastern border with Saudi Arabia July 9, 2015. “I know Houthi won’t accept any condition for withdrawal and there can not be any precondition for ceasefire”.