abdul salam had a very difficult task as is normally the case but they led the delegations with professionalism with discipline and with perseverance it was not an easy exercise but i thank them both for an outstanding outstanding performance and thank you also to the foreign secretary hunter who as you know. made a flying visit ernie yesterday to the talks at a crucial moment this would not have happened with the considerable support or logistical arrangements to make the talks happen in particular the sultanate of amman the kingdom. of courageous of the saudi led coalition and last but absolutely not least perhaps you will allow me mr president to record here my facts my person thanks to the leadership of our and secretary general as i

have said to this council before with a good terrorists is very familiar with the series on the evidence keeps us all very focused we were in frequent contact these past two weeks in particular is meeting where the terrorists in argentina at the g twenty summit with the saudi crown prince ensured the last minute carrots it's essential to move the fifty injured from sun up to muscat just two days before the consultations and his subsequent visit taking time out from his. arduous schedule in your subsequent visit to the consultations themselves in sweden from wednesday night to sendai for those vital last twenty four hours where i am to be instrumental in making their payments and that three i'm most grateful for his leadership mr president what we achieve exactly firstly.

three forget both parties turned up on time. the government had done before but this one hour drive by the delegation from southern this was no small achievement given what we've got before many people and governments can claim credit for that every thank them but i'm grateful so to the two delegations for arriving. ready to work and sweden consisted of a day's hard work meetings with punctual the parties labored daily on texts as well as on principles what began as meeting with the formal nature became over time through engagements between people from both sides who know each other and who seek agreement over difference i wouldn't want to overstate the level of confidence reached between the two sides of this first encounter but

they did business together and almost always in good spirit but then more than mere attendance of course there were a range of agreements made details of which have all been published and are available to members of this council what are they firstly and most dramatic. policies of agreed finally to end the battles and for data. the council has for months called for just such an agreement i believe we now have it dented into force upon publishing the papers on the thirteenth of december. it includes phase but rapid mutual withdrawals of forces from both the three day depôt and the city this will be achieved in the context of a governor at wide sixty five united nations is asked to monitor the compliance of the parties to the commitments and irish or the council revolt to address this

requirement a robust and competent monitoring regime is not just essential it is also gently needed as both parties have told us they would very much welcome it and indeed depend upon it and that the instruction of the secretary general speaking itself from sweden i understand the relevant departments in new york and elsewhere already active in the planning and deployment subject to the decisions of this council tonight should add that i spoke afternoon to general kimmitt general patrick a matter is known are shorter all members of this council for his exceptional achievements and who are kindly drop his other responsibilities to lead the monitoring component of this agreement and we have to see him out here in the region as soon as the middle of next week being present in the field soon is an

essential part of the confidence that needs to go with the implementation of this agreement data has been the focus of international attention this year for reasons not merely because it is the center of gravity of the conflict but also because it is a vital lifeline as mark will no doubt remind us today for the humanitarian program upon which millions of yemenis depend the ghastly prospect of famine. which mark has reminded us. is in prospect has made solving for data and this propensity for battle both and. for this reason the precise nature of the design of the agreed with drawls revolve around humanitarian needs humanitarian requirements thus allowing un as

a first step the lead role in the port is this vital it's a vital response to this year by the terror requirement and we hope to see this happen within days the u.n. will take on a leading role in supporting the yemen red seaport cooperation in management of the spectrums at her data sally. post which will include enhanced monitoring by the un verification and inspection mechanism on them. the un country team under the leadership of my colleague and friend leads ground there has developed a plan seeking specific support from member states in the port lisa and her agency colleagues have indeed been integral to the shaping of agreements on the data and two of her colleagues were with us throughout the talks with reading and i'm very grateful to them for their presence she and they will play

a lead role in the civilian aspect of the deal but i would like to stress. mr mr president one important aspect of this a date or agreement it is an outlier. very deliberately the arrangements agreed to particularly as regards governance in the temporary interests of governance in data intend to set no precedent for the future they are time bound. they do not confer any new sense of legitimacy of sovereignty this is a humanitarian stopgap to save lives and we hope to turn the tide of war towards peace. the parties have also reached a mutual understanding to ease the situation in ties with the prospect of opening of humanitarian corridors to allow the safe passage of goods and people across the front lines reduction of fighting the deployment of the mining operations the

parties in sweden agreed to the establishment of joint committee between themselves and with the united nations in the lead to secure to negotiate agreements to make these objectives happen as soon as possible so we hope that committee will meet soon and we hope it will grip than to bring some respite to the people of typhus from the situation that they have suffered under these these few these many years. before arriving in sweden the parties had already agreed it was the first agreement between them. in the course of this entire conflict the parties already had agreed to this five percent of the joint committee to provide them plan for the major release of all prisoners as i had said to this council before this was the first injunction to me when i took up these responsibilities by president had he who who

urged united nations to focus on the release of prisoners the important humanitarian nature of which is so so surplus that this committee which was established met frequently in sweden with the two sides exchanging lists of up to fifteen thousand prisoners and they were very very lucky to have the full support and involvement in presence in sweden of the international committee of the red cross and we hope with i.c.r.c. in the lead to for a mass exchange as soon as mid january of up to four thousand prisoners released and able to return to their families. who didn't reach agreement on all the items that were on the table in sweden we were not able to reach an agreement on the opening of sana airport and we were not able to reach agreement on the measures needed to improve the operations and reach of the central bank of yemen as a condition for the full payment of salaries of all civil servants. however

we will continue to work with the parties into session today to seek agreement on those issues and finally but not least. the parties have agreed to reconvene at the end of january and this was a particular point raised by the secretary with president had they when they spoke yesterday. but still are present in sweden the public is finally or third discussed my framework elements which i presented to this council in june the key principle of that framework based on the three references the g.c.c. initiative and its implementation mechanism the outcomes of the national dialogue conference and relevant security council resolutions including two to one sect is to with restore state institutions and the state monopoly of force by providing a clear political future to all parties and to all those who have

a say in solving this conflict and indeed to return to yemen to a state of civil politics with peace the parties have agreed to discuss this very much at the next round of consultations ideally as i have mentioned before the end of generate and i'm very encouraged by this commitment i'm very pleased by the general generally positive responses of the parties to this brainwork i think it's fair to say that i was wrong aren't agreement with the general tenor of all its elements governed yemen has a reservations which i understand and respect indeed very much there and the next step will be serious consideration of the document and it's implications and in this way we hope to move from the essentially humanitarian theme of sweden to a first serious consideration of the issues that need to address between this part these parties if identity the conflict in yemen which is to be resolved.

it's a present i also come before you today with a call for caution our collective achievements this week were indeed i hope you will agree a significant step forward but what's in front of us is a daunting task and as ever. in the context of such negotiations one realizes at the end of negotiations that the hard work is only about to begin people ask us whether we can trust the parties to implement the agreements that they made together in sweden all of us there does have different views on this my own is this is not about whether we can trust one or other on this or that commitment this is about helping them both to make it happen and to reporting on that success noting with those areas where they fall short of that thus verification is the key to

building trust like personally have the council will play a part in keeping international attention to the minutiae of the implementation of these agreements having said that i can also confirm the public and private statements made to the secretary general by all involved. consultations of the promises made will not remain in the will not remain early on paper we believe these statements we have reason to believe them and we all hope to see their promises reflected in the next days before the consultations i was asked by both sides whether the other side was serious this is a frequent reference within the context of the conflict in yemen but frankly i wasn't really sure until about two weeks ago today i'm more confident that most and this is what sweden demonstrated each day. well the existence of an absolute international consensus on the need for progress and on the simple proposition that

only a political solution can resolve this conflict among us in sweden with the representatives of those governments accredited to the government of yemen their ambassadors were with us they were in daily contact with the parties the permanent members of this council very prominent among them and that without their help we would not be we would not be where we got to today but this sense of international consensus in the sense of international development was of great importance not just for the parties in sweden but evidently for the people in yemen who hope to have find of finding some small size of the future of the swedish foreign minister indeed said to the press on the closing of those consultations no longer can yemen be considered a forgotten war and now we can begin to hope for a track that may indeed lead to its early resolution thank you so.

nothing griffiths is the u.n. special envoy for yemen he was speaking to the united nations via video link from amman jordan he said that just as you heard at the end of his speech no longer can yemen be considered a forgotten war that is what one of the delegates at the swedish talks said we now go to mark local crews the un humanitarian chief humanitarian crisis i talked to families who fled finance raging in their communities some of them leaving for years under a plastic sheet i met young mothers who grushka desperately malnourished children to hospitals for some it was their second third or even fourth visit because their families can't afford the food or medicine to keep them well once they've been discharged. so i can confirm again what humanitarian agencies have known for a long time a terrible tragedy is unfolding in yemen and it's getting worse millions of people

are starving sick desperate they have one message for the world this war needs to stop you just heard martin describe the progress made this week in sweden for the first time in a long time we can see a sign that perhaps things might start to get a bit better but the people i met see no tangible improvement yet this week success miss not lead to complacency in fact it must do the opposite commitments must be implemented working towards peace must be accelerated in the meantime millions of yemenis still desperately need assistance and protection. mr president we've recently had further confirmation of just how bad the situation has become last week a consortium of agencies publish the integrated face classification analysis for yemen or i.t.c.

their report is the most detailed to rigorous food security survey ever conducted in the country data was collected in three hundred thirty of yemen's three hundred thirty three districts analyzed and scrutinized by multiple organizations and reviewed by independent headquarters experts before publication the results decisively confirm yemen's descent toward famine even for experienced aid workers the numbers are shocking more than twenty million yemenis two thirds of the population are now food insecure ten million of them are severely food insecure and more than twice the number of four years ago. more than half the districts across the country have slipped into emergency conditions nearly sixty percent more than in the last year. and for the first time the i.p.c.c. document what are called phase five conditions in yemen the technical term for

phase five is catastrophe is characterized by extreme food gaps very high malnutrition rates and excess mortality nearly a quarter of a million yemenis are literally on the brink of starvation. it's also clear that the war is the primary cause of this crisis and it's no coincidence that two thirds of the people most at risk of starvation live in hunch. and tides they are the places where the violence has been most intense this year as we told you before the economic crisis is also playing a major role yemeni's livelihoods and access to income of being decimated and agricultural production is formed by nearly a third these developments have left millions more yemenis unable to afford food and other essential goods and food prices are one hundred fifty percent higher than

they were before the crisis. if there's any good news in the i.p.c.c. reports it's that humanitarian assistance especially food aid or money to buy food is having a major impact it shows that millions of yemenis are less hungry than they would be without aid hell the i.p.c. also tells us what areas in which people are west affected the united nations and partners are rushing now to reach those people and to prevent the catastrophe from spreading we will also do more survey work on an ongoing basis so we can spot the most vulnerable before it's too late. mr president since october i've been seeking your support for five measures to prevent famine from taking hold those five steps are more urgent than ever. so where do we stand on them today the first is a sation of hostilities up to now we've only seen

a reduction of fighting in some areas not a full cessation in the last week nearly four hundred fifty conflict incidents were reported across yemen about a third of data say the agreement on who day that martin just described brings us closer to a real. as the details are being worked out we continue to call for a full cessation of hostilities across the country the second point is to protect the supply of food and essential goods and to facilitate operations that means keeping all the ports open easing entry and movement restrictions protecting humanitarian supplies and facilitating aid workers in doing their jobs restrictions on humanitarian access are a serious and growing problem i had a useful discussion in aden with the prime minister on imports last month the government of yemen lifted restrictions on food imports introduced three degrees

seventy five and in november food imports. where most food enters the country by fifteen percent although the quantity remains below what's needed but we also call on the government to lift restrictions on fuel imports which are needed to power hospital generators to keep water networks running and for other critical tasks across the country these restrictions are currently blocking over seventy thousand tonnes of fuel from entering the port i had a constructive discussion with the prime minister on that and i hope to see positive actions. operations of. aden port where congestion has been a severe problem have also started to improve after the government instructed portal thirty's to accelerate processing times following my discussions with the prime minister we hope this trend continues as an immediate step we want to see the

release of some one thousand two hundred fifty world food program containers that have been stuck at asian port for months the red sea mails in your data which i've talked about repeatedly over the last three months are another instructive example access to the mills has been impossible since fighting escalated around them in september fighters have regularly impinged upon the compound and the site was repeatedly struck by mortar fire early last month the mills came under the control of government backed forces but access since then has been hampered by difficulties in moving across from lines and concerns that the area potentially including the entrance to the mills may have been mined. because of all this enough food to nearly to feed nearly three and a half million people for a month has now sat useless in

a warehouse for more than three months i discuss this issue both with the operators of the mills in sanaa and with coalition authorities in riyadh but as of today we have no idea if the red sea mails can still operate or how much of the donor funded grain has been damaged or spoiled the red sea mails are just one site among a very large number of males and warehouses located in and around data if the site say hit or damaged aid operations could very quickly crying to a halt. that's one reason why the progress martens described is so important and why we have to do everything we can to make sure it translates into action in sanaa i raised my serious concerns about the restrictions and bureaucratic impediments humanitarian organizations face including delays in visas and customs

and registration and unacceptable interference with humanitarian operations i raised with senior representatives of the de facto authorities including the president of the supreme political council these were constructive discussions but i have since heard worrying reports that iran new restrictions have been introduced especially for protection activities some of these restrictions have come from local authorities and not from the sanaa level but based on the firm assurances i received during my visit i hope that the de facto authorities in sanaa will move quickly to lift these and other restrictions and i am following up on the assurances i was given in all my conversations in yemen i also saw commitments from all parties to ensure that fighters stay away from hospitals and other civilian sides and that no armed forces recruit children greater commitment is needed

on all sides to the protection of civilians in this crisis especially women and girls. the third area is stabilizing the economy foreign currency injections over the last two months in the kingdom of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates have been effective in stabilizing the exchange rate in financing. and starting to pay pensions and civil servants salaries today trading at just over five hundred of the dollar which represents a marked appreciation compared to a few weeks ago. but it still costs more than twice as many reales as before the current conflict. and research indicates the exchange rate needs to come down to about four hundred forty real to the dollar before it'll have a wider impact on people's ability to afford food and other essential goods to achieve this as well as to finance imports and pay salaries and pensions and meet

minimum cost reliably the government of yemen is going to need billions of dollars in external support for its budget in twenty nineteen again i had constructive discussions with the prime minister on that we're seeing some progress in paying pensions and payment of some civil servant salaries on both sides but it is the i.m.f. statement of yesterday made clear we need more decisions and more sustained action in a similar vein otherwise what we're going to see is that recent progress which is improving some people's ability to buy food and other essential goods will simply be lost again the fourth area is funding for the u.n. response plan agencies are moving now to expand operations next year we believe we need to feed twelve million people every month including ten million severely food insecure people and two million people displaced in acute need twelve million

number is a fifty percent increase on this year in total we plan to assist fifty million people that's half the population that includes programs to rollback cholera and water borne diseases to address malnutrition and to improve living conditions for the most vulnerable displaced people to ensure that all the food medicine household items and other supplies as well as the aid workers reach their destinations quickly and safely. graham must also beef finance to expand significantly this is all going to need a lot of money. the twenty nine thousand humanitarian response plan is costing four billion dollars about half of the emergency food assistance. the king of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates recently pledged to provide another five hundred million dollars for humanitarian aid in yemen on top of their joint contribution of nine hundred thirty million dollars to the u.n.

appeal this year our understanding is that most of this new money will be channeled through next year's u.n. coordinated response plan that would be a boost to our fundraising and we hope it will jumpstart contributions from other countries on the twenty sixth. will convene a high level pledging conference in geneva co-hosted by the governments of switzerland and sweden the fifth areas the most important and that's the parties to continue to engage seriously with martin's process including implementing the agreements reached in sweden mr president the five points. are to remind you a package not a menu we need more action on all of them notwithstanding the good news in sweden is a long way to go i have a. detailed discussion on yemen with the heads of all the key un and other

operational humanitarian agencies our collective assessment is that the good news we've heard this week has not yet had any material impact on the millions of people who need assistance access the economy and resources major priorities the lesson is twofold progress is absolutely possible but we need much more of it right now. i again ask for practical and political support from the council in the five areas i have outlined thank you very much. outlining what he says needs to be done to actually implement. progress in yemen but saying there at the end progress is absolutely possible we need much more of it and we need it right now he also talked about a pledging conference to be called to get rising more to raise more money for the

yemeni situation here is karen parents united kingdom's about soda to the end of the new yemeni representative here this is a good day for all of yemen i want to congratulate commend martin and his team for that what they have to bring about these developments but as martin himself said we should all say thank can command the swedish government the parties themselves the crown prince mohammed bin solomon president hadi representatives from the kuwait and iraq in amman governments and my foreign secretary jeremy hunt president was very pleased to have been able to join his swedish counterpart in stockholm for these important developments but above all i just want to stress how much we owe to martin and his team and of course to the secretary general if i may

say say mr president this is what the u.n. is for this council's united support has helped i think march and the u.n. get to this point i will speak briefly today mr president because i think we all have important work to do now to support much now come on to what marc said in a minute i was very struck by what manchin said about trust between the parties and what he said about international consensus for the first time in two years mr president the people of yemen have been put first and we commend all the parties for taking that important step so we recognize. their leadership we endorse the agreements that they have reached but martin's cautions about it being a humanitarian stopgap a very well taken i want to be fair now to what marc said about the humanitarian

situation on the ground that's a very sobering reminder of the human consequences that are still at stake and how many starving sick and desperate people remain in the most vulnerable of situations so mr president we have no time to lose as mark said we need to bring about tangible improvements for the people of yemen and we need to do that as swiftly as we can thank you to the governments of sweden and switzerland for agreeing to hold a pledging conference mark set out and the date on his five os and refine them we support those. are signed mr president as the pen holder the united kingdom will be soon work on the security council resolution with all our colleagues we plan to endorse the agreements reached support their implementation and set out next steps

as requested we will of course want with colleagues to address the monitoring requirements we welcome the news about general kimmitt i think that's an extremely good step forward we understand the importance of monitoring the compliance and we understand the importance of the u.n. having a leading role in supporting the ports and we hope to be able to work expeditiously with colleagues to bring about a security council resolution which will give the firmest possible support to what has been achieved so far and provide mansion and the parties with a solid foundation as they move towards the end of january agreement on his. framework and we wish him the best of luck with that it's vital mr president it's fine to all that the parties who have made such good steps so far continue their good faith and take urgent steps to put these agreements into full

implementation i'm sure i speak for all colleagues on the council to join me in pledging that the council will do its very best to stay united and to work tirelessly together with partners throughout the u.n. membership to support what's been achieved and movietone to the much desperately needed next stage thank you mr president. your message out of i think. percentage of kuwait should learn to see the use the thank you mr president of course i wish to thank the special envoy of the secretary general mr martin griffiths i also wish to thank mr mark lowcock undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs for their informative briefings a delivered to this council i also thank mr dave at the command of him but the new permanent resident of yemen i will focus in my brigade briefing on two points first

the consultations among the parties and second the development of humanitarian and economic it's so if you're going to situation yemeni regarding negotiations and we have listened with great interest to to the briefing of mr griffiths which of delivers a a a message of great hope put with a view to mitigating the scale of the crisis that has been taking the country since twenty fourteen and there have been consultations or where they get any parties and hosted by the government of sweden. and this constitutes a reflection of a the international community's commitment to to address in this crisis a crisis that has assumed staggering proportions of threatening regional of peace and security and bringing in its wake that negative adverse impacts on they cannot make a humanitarian and political situation in neighboring countries or we. observed relative

more progress in these consultations and this is a great success in a light to the situation in yemen this would not have been the case absent a critical factor such as the unity of a city council because of the big yemeni dosia and this in addition to the pioneering role that has been undertaken by the coalition countries to the to uphold and to lift obstacles to those negotiations not to mention the meaningful commitment of all yemeni stakeholders and their commitment as specifically. with the special envoy with the state of ca it has always been and will continue to support these efforts aim of which is there to address conflicts through peaceful means as well as through mediation this all the more so given that the united nations are the mediator insofar as we are convinced that it is of utmost importance growing importance that the united nations assumes and when i specifically to give council resolutions of the as a insofar as

a security council is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security in the light of the above mentioned and given the importance of being at a settlement in the young men we have made available a private aircraft to transform the delegation from sign out to sweden to participate and attend the consultations and this is it with the aim of achieving a full comprehensive agreement an agreement helping to. address the disasters or precautions with the crisis plague and yemen second turning to developments on the humanitarian and economic fronts it is true that two consultations in stockholm did not lead to a compromise that regarding all issues how ever there has been agreement on the port and that the city of how data and there was an inquest statement of understanding reached on time is moreover a consensus was reached an agreement on a mechanism for the exchange of prisoners and this will help put to address than

the adverse humanitarian impacts plaguing the brotherly yemeni people port. has. been. has and body to the freedom of the unfortunate circumstances of the humanitarian situation this agreement sets out to the stages for implementation this is important as well as a ceasefire and the mutual redeployment of forces are two sides to areas outside of those supports our. side of that city the united nations may be positioned to play a key role to ensure that there be enforcement and of any implementation of those measures and this of course will help to enable a freedom of movement for goods and people the united nations will certainly scallop up from its monitoring role here. it is important for

us to bear in mind that revenues need to be channeled into the yemen central bank to pay the salaries of a civil servant servants in yemen this will have a positive impact and will alleviate that adverse economic impacts of the crisis and will improve the exchange rate of the national currency which has improved recently and has stabilised of four hundred fifty reales per dollar as this was one eight hundred reales per dollar of before. has been enduring difficulties for the past three years and it's brought its daughters and sons to have endured the deplorable circumstances we hope that this statement of understanding will enable. the people to address these circumstances and the consequences of this imagine a crisis our hope is that if they get any party and so will engage meaningfully to implement all the outcomes of the consultations held in sweden insofar as this will be

a key factor to alleviate the humanitarian plight and this it will make the efforts of an international meeting a reality as well as the importance of donors in support of alleviating the humanitarian situation yemen is a brotherly country we are in and it's an expense support from the international council by addressing the specific features of the positive tangible results that have been achieved from the consultations in sweden and this will constitute the bedrock for future consultations and to be held next year and then it's through their framework of a consensual spirit and consensual approach within the security council and this is on the basis of the agreements reached it is important for us to take note and not to deliver messages that may be misinterpreted to conclude sir we iterate our support for the efforts of the special envoy mr march and griffiths we reiterate the importance of these efforts to bring an end to the crisis and. we hope that the

three political differences will be addressed including the mechanism of the implementation of the outcomes of national dialogue at the conference and security council resolutions that particularly the twenty two sixteen to ensure that there be respect for sovereignty independence and territorial integrity of yemen as well as not interference in yemen so domestic affairs thank you for your attention. i thank the representative of kuwait for his statement i now give the floor to the representative of the united states. thank you mr president i thank undersecretary lowcock and special envoy griffis for their briefing for millions of people around the world this is a season of hope this is the time of year that brings out the idealist in many of us we are reminded that we are all every one of us flawed and fallen human beings but we see a light in the darkness and we hope that our best instincts can triumph over our

worst it's difficult to imagine more convincing proof of mankind's worst instincts than the pictures coming out of yemen today innocent children and babies lowly starving to death and succumbing to disease i'll be honest this may be the season of hope but hope alone does not make us feel better when we see the pictures of suffering in yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis demands more than hope from the security council that peace will come to yemen it demands that we take action to hold all the warring parties accountable it demands that we address the iranian aggression at the root of the crisis it demands that lifesaving assistance reach the yemeni women and children who are suffering the most from this conflict. special envoy gryphus has brought us encouraging news we congratulate him on convening the parties in the yemen conflict and bringing them together face to face

for negotiations for the first time since two thousand and sixteen these talks have produced concrete outcomes including an agreement for a prisoner exchange the progress made in sweden should build on the political will necessary for more progress in the future we welcome the willingness of all parties including saudi arabia to participate in these confidence building measures most hopeful of all is the news of the cease fire around the port city of who data the success of this cease fire is critical to addressing the acute immediate need for humanitarian assistance in yemen. all parties including the coalition must exercise restraint in line with the cease fire it is critical the cease fire holds to allow the space for continued conversations we expect that in the coming days the parties will begin withdrawing forces in accordance with the agreement the agreement calls for weekly reports to the security council these reports must show

continued political progress and commitment from all parties the members of the security council will be monitoring the situation very closely we must be ready to act if one or more of the parties fails to follow through the next step is to expand the ceasefire to include the entire city of who data we call on all the parties to take this step and to show the world they are serious about achieving peace in yemen ultimately the success of the cease fire must lead to an agreement on the special envoys framework for a final political settlement this is the outcome toward which all these confidence building measures and negotiations are directed a realistic political framework for peace in yemen and the state and the security council should not stop focusing on this conflict until that is received in this

season of hope the international community doesn't have to be satisfied with just hope for the people of yemen we have the ability to change their reality human beings created this crisis human beings can end it life and death are on the line and we are not powerless we call on all of our colleagues in the security council to take the next step to build on what has begun and define the simple political will to save lives lives of millions and bring about peace in yemen thank you. thank you he is the u.s. ambassador to the united nations she one of five speakers we have heard in the security council session as they discuss the war in yemen they have discussed everything that was achieved in the peace talks in sweden the fact that and nikki haley kept using that phrase the season of hope but saying that this situation in yemen demands more than hope and she and all the other speakers the humanitarian

chief the special envoy saying this is not the time to take the foot of the accelerator i must keep moving and actually implement something at the end of the world as james bays will be linking up with the team in london in just a few moments to explain to you what the next steps are in this war in yemen perhaps some heart that it is coming towards and thanks for staying with us on the newsgroup until santamaria see you again tomorrow. in countries like mine people have been killed to be we in the united states have

privatized the ultimate public function war this was a deal with saudi arabia things were done differently saudis and other arabs when they came to britain for being all to help the past bombs deals although you will rumsfeld was meeting saddam isn't that interesting. shadow coming soon. to stand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world. al-jazeera. on counting the cost we'll assess the state of the u.k. economy is it continues to broker its way out of the e.u. well look at a major milestone for the internet plus and on the walls or economy in kenya

counting the cost on al-jazeera. and monday pointed wealth on the. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country haven't truly been able to escape the war. aid packages arrive for the people of the day to as yemenis pin their hopes on a cease fire agreed for the vital port city.

hello there i'm from a city bar and this is al jazeera live from london also coming up after a week's long power struggle is disputed prime minister mahinda rajapaksa says he'll step down to end the crisis. kosovo's parliament votes to form an army prompting serbia to threaten armed intervention. and a race against time as negotiators struggle to settle many undecided issues of what should have been the final day of un climate talks in paris. alone desperately needed food and humanitarian supplies of arrived in yemen have data as a ceasefire between the warring sides appears to be holding the international committee of the right cross has delivered more than three thousand pulses to the strategic port city it has become the focus of the country's four year war with

millions pushed the verge of famine the ceasefire was agreed between rebels and the yemeni government at the un backed talks in sweden on thursday. the presence of our delegation in sweden was very important and we've sent a message to the world that we're with peace and we want to achieve peace the talks were successful would put us on the right path to peace and to improve the humanitarian situation all of human tragedy in yemen is unprecedented. the u.n. special envoy to yemen has just been briefing the u.n. security council on those peace talks among people he thinks the progress made was the saudi crown prince who has sided defense minister was behind the kingdom's decision to enter yemen in twenty fifteen. a vote for the saudi crown prince of advance on my own personal support for this process vital. and for the agreements remain goetia me answering well to get

a situation spaces at the u.n. in new york at his be monitoring that meeting for i said james today in trusting to him i think with his thank mohammed bin some of the his support why was he doing it given that the saudi crown prince was the architect of the coalition entering yemen and has been the one who has been bombarding yemen for two and a half years very interesting indeed i think in part because they're going to need the saudis going forward and that's why everyone was praising the saudi crown prince sometimes here at the united nations i'll let you into a secret you get a little bit more information in informal gatherings i went to three different diplomatic receptions on thursday evening because it's the holiday season i spoke to quite prominent diplomats about this and what they will tell you when you speak to him in those sort of settings and they're whispering when they when they tell

you is the name jamal khashoggi they say that this would not have preceded this pace if there had not been the outcry around the world at the murder by a saudi assassination team in istanbul because the saudis are on the back foot they are taking measures that i think many diplomats believe they were going to have to take in the end but it certainly speeded things up because clearly stopping the war in yemen is a loss of face for the saudi crown prince it was a pretty lengthy statement that the u.n. envoy gave about what happens next in yemen what are his hopes what does he think will happen. well let me tell you the next phase is the first phase is to endorse this in a u.n. security council resolution that could be tricky the resolutions on yemen in the past have been tricky another reason why you need the saudi crown prince and the

saudis on board because they can make trouble they don't have a veto don't even sit on the security council but it's clear that diplomats will have to liaise with saudi and. on this once they've endorsed all of this in a resolution then the other key thing that we've learnt is that the u.n. is sending monitors to yemen to now that's very difficult sending potentially u.n. troops into a very active or what has been a very active war zone apparently they're coming out with urgent proposals the u.k. ambassador karen pierce was speaking as she often does without notes she goes away from her notes and ad libs and she mentioned general camera and i've done a bit of digging since she mentioned general comment she said we welcome the involvement of gen chemical i can tell you because i know him patrick kamut is a dutch general in my view he's probably currently the un's favorite general he's written reports he's studied the situation in south sudan so what we've learned

from the you can basso there and a bit of digging on the phone since she said that is he is heading those efforts to come up with this monitoring mission that would go into her data how many troops involved how they'll be armed all of those details need to be resolved very very urgent urgently by the united nations and then the final phase of course is january is getting the two sides back because this is really only the first stage dealing with flashpoints on the ground they've got to try and find a power sharing deal of future political arrangement for yemen so fresh talks we think taking place at the end of january one little bit of information on vattel i've gathered doesn't look like it'll be sweden again we're told the talks will be somewhere else next time interesting stuff james bays getting his information there at the u.n. for us thank you. well i'm going to get saudi arabia has been rising in the u.s. with the senate voting to condemn its longstanding ally over the war in yemen and its role in the killing of jamal khashoggi the washington post is running

a full page ad keeping up the pressure over the murder of a saudi journalist who was a regular contributor to the paper the post says it will continue to push for meaningful action of a saudis or bowl in his killing friday zod is part of a last campaign that's being planned for twenty nineteen i think so of course but if she has a ton say he's live in washington d.c. for us right now let's deal with that was post to begin with she have what is the washington post planning to do next what i said as you say there will be a campaign a sustained campaign throughout next year until they say meaningful action is achieved on the death of democracy if you this is the ads that appeared this morning in the washington post a life is gone the principles of free expression endure it says. the publisher of the washington post washington post did expound on the thinking behind this campaign in a memo to his staff on earlier this week he said many people are frustrated and

feel betrayed by the trumpet ministrations apparent effort to sweep jamal's killing under the rug of its failure to stand up for american values run routes they can be assured that the washington post will not rest until justice is served on those who ordered jamal's killing those who carried it out and those who continue to try to cover it up and there is interesting that this pressure will be sustained because even though we're hearing on capitol hill that the incoming democratic house of representatives is just gearing up now to investigate the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia there is always that chance that the senate by its actions on thursday may if it was done enough now and we can see that begin to fizzle out but clearly the washington post wants to keep the pressure up slowly she has in washington thank you. donald trump's former lawyer says the u.s. presidents knew making harsh payments during the twenty sixteen presidential campaign was roll michael cohen was speaking after he was given

a three year prison sentence for campaign finance ford and lying to congress in an exclusive interview with a.b.c. news is george stephanopoulos he insisted he was simply doing what he was told i give loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve what he was trying to hide what you were doing correct correct and he knew i was wrong of course he knows the truth i know the truth many people know the truth under no circumstances do i want to embarrass the president of the united states of america the truth is i told the truth i took responsibility for my actions and instead of him taking responsibility for his actions what does he do he attacks my family. now there's been a new twist in sri lanka's political crisis with mahinda rajapaksa set to resign

from the disputed prime minister post on saturday rajapaksa son says he made that decision off to meeting president my three policy recenter sri lanka has been without a functioning government for nearly two weeks off of course suspended rajapaksa and his cabinet when they lost to no confidence votes source and a canal point a replacement to avert a possible government shutdown on january first let's take you live now to colombo and speak to al-jazeera xmen elfin and as he is there for a seminal rajapaksa who of course himself is a former presidents of sri lanka has finally decided then to give up his attempts to remain prime minister. that's right felicity this political crisis has been long drawn out for almost forty days since prison my policy received a centrally appointed mine the rajapaksa as prime minister after unceremoniously

sacking prime minister run over missing her since then it's been sort of a mess in some people's descriptions where no one has no one what exactly is going on who is in power we have two men claiming to be the legitimate prime minister of this country the president insisting that his appointee is illegitimate so now we find that after the supreme court in a historic verdict yesterday has found that the president acted in contrary contravention of the constitution when he dissolved parliament and called a snap election essentially today another case there is a restraining order against my in the rajapaksa and forty eight of his ministers stopping them from acting in those rules and rajapaksa went to the supreme court today with a view to getting that restraint in order stayed however the court refused that they have basically listed the case for january when they will hear it so running

out of options really his son nama rajapaksa who i spoke to a short while ago basically saying that his decision to step down which he will announce in an address to the nation tomorrow is about ensuring stability of the nation that right now given where things stand that he's stepping down to do this to ensure the nations to believe but russia party really running out of options having been checkmated the supreme court finding that obviously the dissolution and elections which the entire ma in the rajapaksa camp really wanted in fact his son saying that when mind rajapaksa to go on the prime ministership it was very much with an understanding that it was to set up a sort of a caretaker government in the short term which would ultimately walk towards general election however as he said with no elections inside until the parliament completes four and a half years.