Yemen's Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani said the Houthi militia's siege of Taiz continuing since the coup of 2014 has left four million people in unprecedented misery in the central Yemeni city. In a statement to Yemeni News Agency (Saba), Al-Eryani said the siege and abuses there, "amounts to war crimes." "The continuity of Houthi siege around Taiz for six years, reveals the falsehood of the terrorist militia's presentation of itself as a campaigner against the [Coalition's] blockade, a rhetoric it employs to draw the sympathy of and mislead the international community while seeking to cover up its own despicable crimes." "Any de-escalation efforts that does not include a total and unconditional removal of the siege on Taiz and end the agony of the people of Taiz is lacking. Such effort turns its back to the agony of four million people and confirms that the international community follows a double-standard approach in tackling humanitarian issues," Eryani said. He called on the international community, the UN, the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the US and UN envoys to Yemen to "assume their legal and humanitarian obligation by forcing the Houthi militia to end the Taiz siege, and allow the travel of civilians and passage of foodstuff shipments in line with the Stockholm Agreement." In Brussels, Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmed Awadh reaffirmed on Sunday that the stance of the legitimate government of Yemen is based on backing up the Saudi initiative to solve the crisis in his country, as whole package, with its four ingredients, adding that his country's government welcomes any effort to be exerted to realize peace. The minister said he has asked various top European officials, including Josep Borrell, vice-president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to pay more attention to diversifying aid presented to Yemen, to include development related projects that would enable Yemenis to enter the labor market and help the socio-economic revival. — SPA
