The landmark truce in Yemen, which has been holding since April, has been renewed for an additional two months through 2 October, UN Special Envoy for the country, Hans Grundberg, announced recently.

The extension includes a commitment by the Government and Houthi rebels to intensify negotiations to reach an expanded agreement as soon as possible.

The envoy thanked the leadership of both sides for agreeing to the extension, and for their continued constructive engagements.

“I count on the continued cooperation of the parties to meet their commitments and implement all elements of the truce and to negotiate in good faith to reach an expanded truce agreement, and to put Yemen on a path to sustainable peace. The Yemeni people deserve no less,” he said in a statement.

The current truce in Yemen has created the “best opportunity for peace in years”, according to a USA spokesperson, who added. “Justice, accountability, and redress for human rights abuses and violations are essential for an enduring peace in Yemen, and the United States has long supported Yemeni civil society toward these ends,” the spokesperson said.

As a result, the American government is exploring the creation of a new international committee to document and report on human rights violations in Yemen, months after a Saudi lobbying campaign quashed an independent United Nations investigation into possible war crimes.

However, Abdulrasheed al-Faqih, a prominent Yemeni human rights defender, said the administration’s proposed plan to “replace” the independent UN body that had been investigating possible war crimes was deeply flawed. The state department, he said, was considering including representatives from Yemen’s presidential leadership council, which has close ties to Riyadh, as a “partner” in the new international mechanism.

“They are working on a very, very bad mechanism that can replace the [UN body],” he said. “First of all, the starting point is that the mandate is weak, and second, it is not independent at all.”  Faqih said if the administration pursues the proposal it would be akin to asking Vladimir Putin to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.  Two others familiar with the preliminary discussions, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said they were also aware of efforts by the administration to reach out to NGOs to discuss the plans.

Al-Faqih is co-founder and executive director of Mwatana for Human Rights, a group that monitors and documents war crimes, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and restrictions on the press. The group’s field researchers have compiled extensive evidence of Saudi’s previous bombing campaigns in Yemen, and contributed to a 288-page report in 2019 by the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), which found that the Saudi attacks appeared to violate international humanitarian law by “targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

More: UN,  The Guardian,  Aljazeera

Pray:

That any signs of peace, however fragile, be supported and nurtured leading to a long-term solution for the people and nation of Yemen

That abuse and injustice be challenged and rooted out, so that justice may be seen in the land of Yemen

For those who have suffered during the seven years of conflict in the Yemen, through famine, disease and attack.  Pray that their needs will not be forgotten and lost in political negotiations.