UN envoy warns that Yemen risks being drawn into broader regional conflict

HAMILTON, Canada

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Thursday warned that Yemen must not be pulled back into escalating regional tensions, stressing that fragile gains will not last without a comprehensive political settlement.

"As we navigate an increasingly contested world, where established rules and norms are under strain and where conflicts are multiplying across regions, we must be reminded that these are familiar themes for Yemenis," Grundberg told the Security Council.

He said Yemenis have long lived with "the uncertainty brought by the erosion of institutions, the fragmentation of authority and the gradual disappearance of predictable rules."

While pointing to "early positive signs in government areas, including improvements in the provision of electricity and payment of public sector salaries," he warned that "continued tensions, recent security incidents and demonstrations, where in some cases violence and loss of life has been reported, underscore the fragility of the situation."

"Without a wider negotiated political settlement to the conflict, gains will continue to remain vulnerable to reversal," he noted, adding, "Treating political, economic and security issues in isolation can only produce partial results that will not hold."

On rising regional tensions, Grundberg stressed that "whatever the regional trajectory, Yemen must not be pulled back into a broader confrontation."

"No single Yemeni actor has the right to unilaterally drag the country into a regional conflict," he said. "The responsibility borne by all Yemeni actors and decision makers is first and foremost to the Yemeni people -- to their security, to their livelihoods and to their future.”

Marking one year since a World Food Program colleague died while in Houthi detention, Grundberg said, "There has been no investigation or answers on the circumstances of his death."

He stated that "today, 73 UN colleagues in addition to other former UN staff are detained, along with others from civil society and diplomatic missions," and called on Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi group, "to unconditionally and immediately release detained staff and rescind all court referrals."

Half of Yemen's population will need humanitarian assistance in 2026

Lisa Doughten, director of the financing and outreach division at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned about Yemen's deepening humanitarian emergency, with needs rising across the country.

"This year, 22.3 million people, or half the population, will need humanitarian assistance -- an increase of 2.8 million from last year," she said.

Yemen continues to face "the region's most severe hunger crisis," she said, noting that "over 18 million people face acute food insecurity."

She added that the country has "5.5 million experiencing IPC Phase 4 emergency food security conditions or above."

Highlighting the effect on children and women, Doughten said, "More than 2.2 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 570,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition."

An additional "1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are at serious risk to be malnourished in 2026," she said.

"Despite extreme challenges, humanitarians continued to save lives in 2025," she said, noting that partners delivered food aid to more than 5 million people and treated over 330,000 children for severe acute malnutrition, even as the humanitarian appeal was funded at only 28.5%, "forcing us to make impossible choices."