Emily
Thornberry MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs,
commenting on today’s reports from Yemen, said:
“The killing of Ali Saleh by his former Houthi allies represents a
dangerous new turn in this conflict. An already multi-sided regional conflict
now faces even greater violence between Saleh loyalists and Houthi militias,
which will only plunge the millions of malnourished, embattled civilians in
rebel-held areas into ever more desperate danger.
“Now, more than ever before, we need an urgent UN-led effort
to halt the violence on all sides, allow Yemen’s civilians to receive the
humanitarian relief they need, and work towards a political solution to the
conflict. We renew our calls on the UK government to play their part in that
effort by bringing forward the draft ceasefire resolution for which the UN
Security Council has now been waiting for more than a year.
“Even before today, hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children
in rebel-held areas were already facing death from famine, disease and the
Saudi air strikes and blockade. On top of all that, the creation of a new front
of the civil war within their own cities and towns is another unconscionable
cruelty, and the whole world needs to act now to stop their suffering before it
is too late.”
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