United Nations Special Envoy Martin Griffiths will brief the Security Council on Thursday on the situation in Yemen, following recent military escalations and the onset of COVID-19 that threaten efforts to reach a resolution. 

Yemen’s government said earlier this week that forces will confront an “armed rebellion” by southern forces, in the latest developments of a near month-long standoff between allies in the anti-Houthi alliance.
Fierce clashes erupted in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan between government troops and separatists this week, with several killed. 

On April 25, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared a plan to move towards self-rule after decrying protracted delays from the government on a deal agreed in Riyadh last November for a cabinet shake-up and a new power-sharing agreement.

Yemen’s Prime Minister, Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, met with the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council on Wednesday to discuss the latest security developments, and efforts to bring peace to unify efforts to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

The meeting touched on the international rejection of the STC’s self-declaration of rule over the south and the consequent undermining of the work of state institutions in the temporary capital of Aden and efforts to support the implementation of the Riyadh agreement.
The meeting also discussed government efforts to confront the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the Houthi militia’s continued violations of the ceasefire that began last month. 

The meeting discussed the ongoing arrangements for holding the Donor Conference for Yemen 2020, which was called by Saudi Arabia, to aim to provide the necessary humanitarian support to the Yemeni people. 

The prime minister discussed operations of the Saffer oil tank, Yemen’s national oil company.