Yemen Peace Talks End With Ceasefire Agreement For Major Port City; U.S. Senate Votes To End Military Assistance For Saudi Arabia; WFP Says Agency Cannot Meet Country’s Needs
The Guardian: Yemen: ceasefire agreed for port city of Hodeidah
“Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to an immediate ceasefire in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, the U.N. secretary general has said, in a potential breakthrough at the end of a week of peace talks in Sweden. … If implemented on the ground, the deal would represent a breakthrough because the port is the gateway for the bulk of humanitarian aid coming into the country, and has been the subject of intense fighting. Ceasefires have also been agreed at two other ports, Salif and Ras Issa…” (Wintour/McKernan, 12/13).
New York Times: Senate Votes to End Aid for Yemen Fight Over Khashoggi Killing and Saudis’ War Aims
“The Senate voted on Thursday to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen in the strongest show of bipartisan defiance against President Trump’s defense of the kingdom over the killing of a dissident journalist. The 56-to-41 vote was a rare move by the Senate to limit presidential war powers and sent a potent message of disapproval for a nearly four-year conflict that has killed thousands of civilians and brought famine to Yemen…” (Davis/Schmitt, 12/13).
Devex: As Senate votes on Yemen, WFP says it can’t meet country’s need
“As the U.S. Senate made a largely symbolic vote Thursday to cut off support from the United States for the war in Yemen, World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said that his agency will not be able to meet the country’s spiking humanitarian need with 16 million on the brink of starvation. Beasley said that the man-made war, which has been marked by sustained bombing campaigns of civilian areas and port blockades of desperately needed food aid, has gone on for so long that the country’s economy is in shambles and the number of people who are able to meet their basic needs without help continues to shrink…” (Welsh, 12/14).
Additional coverage of the ceasefire agreement is available from Al Jazeera, CNN, New York Times, NPR, VOA News, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.
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