Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to help the combatants in Yemen to agree a ceasefire and to remove the external blockade, in particular of supplies.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK welcomes the positive progress made at UN-facilitated talks held between 15 and 20 December 2015 and the ceasefire that commenced on 15 December including the intention to extend this until 28 December. We fully support the UN’s efforts to return to an inclusive political process and strongly encourage all parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire, which will allow urgent medical and humanitarian aid to reach those in need. The engagement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), our Ambassadors, and the UK Special Envoy to Yemen Sir Alan Duncan, with key Yemeni actors has supported this process. We are also providing financial support to the UN Special Envoy’s Office. As Yemenis are highly reliant on food and fuel imports for their basic needs (food, health, water, electricity), one of our top priorities is to help commercial shipping return to pre-conflict levels. We welcomed the Government of Yemen’s commitment in October to allow commercial ships access to Yemen. The number of ships has increased in recent weeks: over 50 ships have berthed in both October and November. However, commercial imports are still far below pre-crisis levels. We will continue to monitor this closely and are funding the new UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism along with the US, EU and Netherlands to speed up clearance processes.
