BICOM

The US has delayed a UK-backed UN Security Council resolution that calls for a limited ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid in Yemen.

The US on Tuesday told the UN Security Council that the draft resolution should be put on hold until peace talks are held in Sweden in early December. “We look forward to offering more substantive comments to the draft once we have more information on the outcomes of the upcoming consultations,” said the US in a message it sent to other council members.

A US source told CNN that the delay is due to the Trump administration not wanting to anger Saudi Arabia, which strongly opposes the draft resolution and views it as indirect criticism of its intervention in Yemen. The source added that the move is at odds with what US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has been signalling to her counterparts at the UN, who last month made a surprise call for a ceasefire and threw her weight behind the UN-led effort to hold peace talks.

The UK-draft resolution calls for an immediate truce in the port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for 80 per cent of humanitarian aid and supplies to Yemen, and sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said: “Negotiating the Security Council Resolution is important as we look to increase international consensus around Yemen. Our main focus at this time is offering our support for UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths who is making progress in his negotiations with the Republic of Yemen and the Houthi rebels.”

The civil war in Yemen has lasted three years and killed 10,000 people. The UN says 13 million civilians are at risk of starvation. The Saudi-led coalition, allied with the Government, has been fighting rebel Houthis backed by Iran since 2015. Saudi airstrikes have killed thousands of Yemeni civilians, while the Houthis have fired long-range missiles into Saudi Arabia and targeted vessels in the Red Sea.