UN says Yemen’s warring parties agree to renew truce

By NOHA ELHENNAWY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations says that Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to renew a nationwide truce for another two months. The U.N. envoy to Yemen commended the two sides in a statement on Thursday, calling the cease-fire “a significant shift in the trajectory of the war.” The announcement is a glimmer of hope for the Arab world’s most impoverished country, plagued by eight years of civil war. However, significant obstacles remain to lasting peace. The cease-fire between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels first came into effect on April 2. It’s the first nationwide truce in the last six years of the conflict and fighting has significantly subsided.