US 'asks Saudi Arabia' to ease Yemen blockade

US 'asks Saudi Arabia' to ease Yemen blockade
Tillerson's request to Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was one of several US attempts to ease Riyadh's foreign policy.
2 min read
23 November, 2017
The UN has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis
Saudi Arabia was asked to ease its blockade on Yemen by the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson according to two sources to Reuters 

The exchange took place days before the US backed Saudi-led coalition announced on Wednesday that it would allow aid to flow through the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and UN flights to the capital.

Tillerson's request to Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was one of several US attempts to ease Riyadh's foreign policy.

According to the source, the request was made during a 45 minute phone call earlier in the week.

R.C. Hammond, Tillerson’s adviser, confirmed the exchange with the Crown Prince saying, the secretary of state 'has brought the request to Saudi’s attention several times over the past months.'

In his comments on the situation in Yemen, US Senator Todd Young said: "It is my understanding that the administration is frustrated. There has been of course varying degrees of frustration from different members of the administration."

The coalition had previously imposed a total blockade of Yemen's ports and airports days after a missile was fired into Saudi Arabia on November 4.

The United Nations Security Council on November 9 called for the blockade to be lifted, warning that otherwise Yemen would face "the largest famine the world has seen for decades".

According to a senior Saudi official, White House officials communicated the importance of those steps to the Saudi ambassador in Washington before the secretary of state spoke to Prince Mohammed.

"They stressed the importance of addressing the humanitarian situation in Yemen and we said that we understood and that the closures were temporary while we work on a comprehensive aid and access plan," the official said.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in neighbouring Yemen in March 2015 to push back the rebels who control the capital Sanaa, in an attempt to restore the government of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

The UN has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with 17 million people in need of food, seven million of whom are at risk of famine.

Since 2014, the war in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 civilians.