Indonesia, Saudi Arabia Discuss Yemen Crisis

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi spoke on Thursday with her Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on security issues including the conflict in Yemen.

“Indonesia is concerned about the development and the escalation of recent tensions in Yemen, especially its impact on humanitarian issues,” Retno told reporters in a virtual press briefing on Thursday, September 17.

The situation in Yemen has already been discussed during the UN Security Council meeting. During the event, UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffith, and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, have briefed on the situation in Yemen.

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“The briefing explained the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen where people are suffering even more because of the prolonged conflict,” Retno said.

“The briefing also discussed the threat of famine that could affect most of the Yemeni people,” she added.

Retno said Indonesia has called for all parties to exercise self-restraint and immediately finalize a joint declaration on peace initiated by the UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen.

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Retno underscored that Indonesia strongly condemned the Houthis’ attacks on civilian targets in the neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia. Indonesia, she added, also expressed its deep concern about the humanitarian crisis on the ground, which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and underscored the importance of protecting the civilians.

“We hoped that the Sana’a International Airport resumes operations because the airport is an entry point for humanitarian assistance which is currently needed by the Yemeni people,” the minister said.

(Editor: Icha Rastika)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/09/17/21245451/menlu-retno-bahas-ketegangan-di-yaman-dengan-menlu-saudi.