Ban urges immediate ceasefire, political solution in Yemen

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediate cessation of clashes in Yemen, saying a political solution is the best way out of the conflict in the Arab country.

"I am calling for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen by all parties … It is time to support corridors for lifesaving aid and a passage to real peace," Ban said on Friday, adding, “The United Nations-supported diplomatic process is the best way out of a drawn-out war with terrifying implications for regional stability."

The UN chief also said the government in Riyadh is aware of the importance of dialog in resolving the Yemeni crisis.

"The Saudis have assured me that they understand there must be a political process," he pointed out, calling on “all Yemenis to participate” in diplomacy.

Ban further said he is trying to find a new representative "who can be immediately deployed" to the violence-wracked country.

Jamal Benomar, the UN envoy to Yemen, has recently resigned over pressure from the Saudi regime and its allies, which accused him of backing the Ansarullah fighters of the Houthi movement.

Yemenis refuse 'political enslavement'

On Thursday, thousands of Yemenis took to the Liberation Square of the capital city of Sana’a to denounce a recent resolution by the United Nations Security Council to slap sanctions against Ansarullah fighters.

The protesters stressed that they would never succumb to international pressure aimed at "the political enslavement" of the Yemeni people.

“For this international body to pass such a resolution is very shameful. All of the past sentences have also proved to be shameful and have never stood in favor of those who are oppressed. The Yemeni people want to assure the UN that their decision would only embolden the determination of the Yemeni people,” Khaled al-Madani, a Houthi official, told Press TV.

The demonstrators also urged an immediate probe into the Saudi aggression against the Yemeni people which has claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians so far.

“Your airstrikes and warships, tanks and missiles will never frighten us. In the name of Allah, we will remain firm as the mountains,” said a Houthi fighter.

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against the Ansarullah fighters of the Houthi movement started on March 26, without a United Nations mandate, in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

According to reports, close to 2,600 people, including women and children, have so far lost their lives in the attacks.

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