With no extension announced, a five-day humanitarian cease-fire in Yemen ended Sunday night, with both civilians and aid organizations wondering if airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels there would resume.
The cease-fire hadn’t halted all fighting in Yemen between the rebels, known as Houthis, and those opposing them.
Sunday night, there were concentrated flyovers by aircraft likely from the coalition in Aden and Saada, though no strikes, residents said. However, flyovers had been going on throughout the cease-fire.
Earlier Sunday, hundreds of Yemeni politicians and tribal leaders began talks in Saudi Arabia on the future of their war-torn country, though the Houthis were not taking part.
The Houthis have rejected the main aim of the three-day talks the restoration of Yemen’s exiled president and the location of the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. The absence of the Houthis means the national dialogue is unlikely to end the violence, which saw the rebels seize the capital, Sanaa, in September and ultimately force President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi into exile.
The U.N. envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, opened the meeting in Riyadh by calling on all parties to ensure that the shaky cease-—fire leads to a lasting truce.
“I call on all parties to refrain from any action that disturbs the peace of airports, main areas and the infrastructure of transport,” said Ahmed, who delivered the speech on behalf of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Since late March, Saudi Arabia has led airstrikes against the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The air campaign is aimed at weakening the Houthis and restoring Hadi, who fled the country in March in the face of a rebel advance.
“This conference taking place today is in support of politics and community, and rejects the coup,” Hadi told the gathering.
Among those taking part in the conference are members of Saleh’s former ruling party.
Yemen’s conflict has killed more than 1,400 people many of them civilians since March 19, according to the U.N. The country of some 25 million people has endured shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity as a result of a Saudi-led blockade. Humanitarian organizations had been scrambling to distribute aid before the end of the truce.
