Yemen Houthis back truce, UN, US call for aid to flow
Yemen's Houthi-run administration welcomed a 72-hour ceasefire starting on October 19 intended to allow aid to reach areas cut off by months of fighting and in dire humanitarian need.
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In its first statement on the truce, a governing council composed of the Iranian-allied Houthi group and powerful local allies demanded a Saudi-backed Arab coalition end military attacks and lift curbs on air, sea and land transport.
A ceasefire between warring factions will begin at 2359 local time (2059 GMT) on October 19, the United Nations said, raising hopes of an end to a war that has killed thousands of civilians and left people starving.
The council announced its "positive engagement" with the ceasefire plan, and added Yemen needed an immediate, lasting and comprehensive truce without conditions, including what it called an end to the blockade on the Yemeni people.
Aid agencies may try during the ceasefire to reach families trapped in towns and villages where fighting and coalition-imposed travel curbs have left people short of food and in need of vital medical supplies.
"Hopefully this nationwide cessation will provide humanitarian agencies and organizations the opportunity to respond in areas that have been cut off or are hard to reach in all of Yemen," Jamie McGoldrick, the UN's Yemen Humanitarian Coordinator, told Reuters.
McGoldrick said he hoped the cessation of hostilities would be extended and would herald a resumption of peace talks that collapsed in August.
