Yemen People's Suffering Relentlessly Intensified: UN Official

O'Brien said that he was grieved that, in the past two years, despite his and his team's much effort, he has been "unable to report any significant improvement in the deplorable, avoidable and completely man-made catastrophe that is ravaging Yemen."

On the contrary, he said, "the Yemeni people's suffering has relentlessly intensified."

"Today, millions of people in Yemen are facing a triple tragedy: the spectre of famine, the world's largest ever single-year cholera outbreak, and the daily deprivation and injustice of a brutal conflict that the world is allowing to drag on and on," he said, Xinhua news agency reported.

O'Brien called for the opening of all ports, including land, sea and air, to civilian traffic to allow in aid, as well as for parties to the conflict to respect international human and human rights law.

He also stressed the need for civil servants to be paid "to prevent the collapse of institutions and for accountability to be strengthened."

UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the Council via video link that Yemen today continues to traverse a critical and agonizing period as civilians pay a terrible price of an unending power struggle, adding that those who survive the fighting face death by famine or disease as the economic situation continues to deteriorate and the humanitarian conditions worsen.

The envoy noted that "military clashes continue and that reported attacks on ships imperil the delivery of much needed humanitarian and commercial supplies."

In his recent meetings with senior Yemeni officials and regional leaders, he said that "there is still consensus on the need to reach a political solution and to support the UN-sponsored peace process under the Secretary-General's auspices."