United Nations S/ PV.8757 Security Council Provisional Seventy-fifth year 8757th meeting Tuesday, 15 September 2020, 10 a.m. New York President: Mr. Abarry ..................................... (Niger) Members: Belgium ....................................... Mrs. Van Vlierberge China ......................................... Mr. Geng Shuang Dominican Republic ............................. Mrs. Cedano Estonia ........................................ Mr. Auväärt France ........................................ Mr. De Rivière Germany ...................................... Mr. Heusgen Indonesia. Mr. Djani Russian Federation ............................... Mr. Nebenzia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ................... Ms. King South Africa ................................... Mr. Matjila Tunisia ........................................ Mr. Ladeb United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .. Mr. Allen United States of America .......................... Ms. Norman-Chalet Viet Nam ...................................... Mr. Dang Agenda The situation in the Middle East This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the Security Council. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 20-23654 (E) *2023654* S/PV.8757 The situation in the Middle East 15/09/2020 The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m. Now is the time for the parties to swiftly conclude the negotiations and finalize the joint declaration. My Adoption of the agenda appeal at this time is very simple: choose peace; end this conflict; work with us urgently on the joint declaration. The agenda was adopted. Nowhere is the importance of this choice more The situation in the Middle East evident than in Ma’rib, the governorate to the east of Sana’a. Heavy fighting continues to take The President (spoke in French): In accordance place — if anything it has increased — along its front with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of lines, including along the governorates’ borders with procedure, I invite the representative of Yemen to Al-Jawf, Sana’a and Al-Bayda governorates. The participate in this meeting. situation in Ma’rib is of concern in a number of different In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s ways — principally, the high degree of loss of lives and provisional rules of procedure, I invite the following the real threat to hundreds of thousands of people and briefers to participate in this meeting: Mr. Martin others in need. Ma’rib has played the role in this war of Griffiths, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for a safe haven for those people displaced from other parts Yemen; and Mr. Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary- of Yemen who came to Ma’rib for safety. And a battle there, which is threatened, would tragically displace General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency them yet again, forcing them to move yet further from Relief Coordinator. their homes. The Security Council will now begin its The political importance of Ma’rib must also not be consideration of the item on its agenda. underestimated. Military shifts and consequences and I give the floor to Mr. Griffiths. events in Ma’rib have ripple effects on the dynamics of the conflict across Yemen. If Ma’rib falls, simply put, Mr. Griffiths: I thank you, Mr. President, for giving this would undermine the prospects of convening an me this opportunity to brief the Security Council. inclusive political process that brings about a transition Earlier this year, I warned that Yemen was at a based on partnership and plurality. critical juncture. I said that either the guns would be In Al-Hudaydah, meanwhile, reports of ceasefire silenced, and the political process would resume, violations continue daily. The United Nations Mission or Yemen would slip back away from that road to to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), led peace. Unfortunately, this is exactly what seems to be by Lieutenant General Guha, continues to experience happening. Increased fighting, greater humanitarian restrictions that hamper the Mission’s operations. needs and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) You, Mr. President, will recall the tragic shooting in pandemic are still taking their toll. March of Government of Yemen liaison officer Colonel Al-Sulayhi, who later died of his wounds. UNMHA That does not mean that, together, we cannot turn is engaging with both parties to ensure such incidents the corner and move back towards finding a solution do not reoccur, and to pave the way for a return to a to this conflict, but it requires the parties to choose functioning joint set-up overseen by the Redeployment and to decide. We all know what needs to be done and Coordination Committee. These steps should further what choices need to be made if Yemen is to emerge the implementation of the Hodeidah Agreement. successfully from this conflict. I am also deeply concerned about the humanitarian Last week, I sent the two parties an advanced consequences of fuel shortages in Ansar Allah- draft text of the joint declaration that, as you know, controlled parts of northern Yemen. I want to emphasize Mr. President, we have been negotiating over the past the importance of ensuring that civilians can regularly six months. The draft document reflects and balances and reliably access adequate supplies of fuel and other the comments from prior rounds of the talks during essential goods. I know that Mark Lowcock will describe those months and, importantly, I believe, incorporates this as a basic principle of humanitarian protection and inputs from civil society, women’s groups and other assistance. The flow of essential commercial imports, components of Yemen’s voice for peace. including food, fuel and medical supplies, and their 2/20 20-23654 15/09/2020 The situation in the Middle East S/PV.8757 distribution throughout Yemen to civilians are of course inclusion in a future political process, which we hope of the highest priority. will not be long off. I am also deeply concerned that Ansar Allah Also, as part of these inclusion efforts, we are recently announced the closure of Sana’a airport to organizing a skills-building workshop with the Yemeni humanitarian flights. As I am sure Mark will discuss, Women’s Technical Advisory Group — I think we have this has the potential to seriously impact the United discussed their role and significance in this Chamber Nations operations, as well as the operations of other before — but we have also stepped up our engagement humanitarian agencies in that part of Yemen providing with the Group of Nine women’s organizations to seek critical assistance, which may be thus prevented from their inputs in our joint declaration. In that regard, I entering Sana’a. want to pay specific tribute here to the close relationship We, the Council and ourselves together, need to also that we continue to enjoy with UN-Women, for which remain focused on ensuring the earliest possible arrival we are very grateful. of the United Nations technical mission to assess the I want to close by emphasizing that, although, as I FSO SAFER oil tanker in the ports of Al-Hudaydah. have said perhaps rather boringly before, the situation I know that we will be hearing more from Mark on is very dire, the parties can choose to either continue that issue. this trajectory of escalating violence or to make the I would also like to report that, if logistical compromises necessary to revive the political process arrangements permitting, which are always complicated and allow for a political settlement. These choices are in Yemen and even more so now at the time of the clear and evident and in the hands of the parties. The pandemic, we expect to see the parties this week United Nations and the members of the Council must in Switzerland to continue their discussions on the and, I am sure, will do everything possible to push for implementation of prisoner exchanges, under the joint and support the latter outcome. We play a supporting auspices of my Office and the International Committee role. The outcome lies in the hands of the parties. We of the Red Cross, to which I pay tribute for its work are there and we will watch with the people of Yemen to on that project. The parties committed to releasing see what choices they make and how they may swiftly conflict-related prisoners and detainees back in 2018 be implemented. in Stockholm and furthered their discussions to fulfil (spoke in French): I thank that commitment in Amman earlier this year. I hope The President this meeting will actually result in the release of some Mr. Griffiths for his briefing. prisoners and some evidence of the implementation of I now give the floor to Mr. Lowcock. those commitments, particularly given the threat of COVID-19 in places of detention. Mr. Lowcock: Two years ago, I warned the Security Council that we were losing the fight against famine in I want to emphasize the vital role of Yemeni civil Yemen. At the time we identified five urgent priorities: society in demanding an end to the conflict. They truly first, protecting civilians; secondly, humanitarian are champions of peace. Civil society has also vocally access; thirdly, funding; fourthly, the need to support advocated for measures to bring relief to the population, the economy; and, fifthly, progress towards peace. including recently in a very marked way the release of prisoners and detainees. Civil society’s role is central Progress was made. Donors swiftly allocated more in maintaining the pressure for a peaceful resolution funds, meeting almost 90 per cent of our funding needed in every conflict, including in Yemen.