Fresh violence in Yemen after UN fails to agree on statement on crisis

Yemen has been struck by fresh new violence, one day after a summit in the United Nations failed to reach a consensus on the nation’s crisis.

In the coastal city of al-Hudaydah, a gunman killed at least one person attending an anti-government protest, according to Al Jazeera, citing witnesses.

One protester was killed and around eight others were wounded, a member of the protest organizing committee told Al Jazeera.

Separately, Agence France Presse said protesters shot and killed a policeman and wounded three others in the southern port city of Aden.

Yesterday, at least four protesters were killed and hundreds more wounded by security forces in Sanaa, the capital.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council beseeched Yemenis on both side of the conflict to exercise restraint and to enter into a comprehensive dialogue to realize the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people.

Germany’s ambassador to the UN, Peter Wittig, initially called the meeting in order to end a strong unified message to Yemen to cease bloodsheds and encourage mediation efforts by Arab neighbors.

However, the Council failed to reach an agreement of a statement on Yemen that was proposed by Lebanon and Germany.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, there were several delegations that wanted instruction from [their] capitals. Al Jazeera reported those countries are believed to be Russia and China.

It is unclear why Russia and/or China objected to the UN’s proposed statement on Yemen.

However, prior to the UN council parley, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned Yemeni opposition figures not to expect the kind of assistance that Libyan rebels are receiving.

Rice said several themes emerged, including a call for restraint and an end to the violence'' and fears that instability in Yemen could spill over into the wider region, including Saudi Arabia.

While the UN met in New York, some Yemeni officials went to Abu Dhabi to speak with delegates from the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to discuss a plan under which Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh will transfer power to his deputy to bring an end the crisis.

More than a hundred people in Yemen have died in the unrest that has now spanned two months. The UN estimates that those deaths include 26 children.