Benomar: Ceasefire reached in Dammaj and ICRC evacuates wounded

A ceasefire agreement is reached on Monday in Dammaj area in Sa'ada province and the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) team has managed to enter the area. The statement was made by the UN Secretary-General's Envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar today in a press conference held in Sana'a. "An ICRC convey arrived for more than an hour from now [in Dammaj] and the medical teams are evacuating the wounded," he said, explicating that there are many serious injuries from both conflicting parties, including 25 critical cases. Benomar said that the President Abd Rabbo Hadi has sent a special plane to convey the wounded from Sa'ada. "The government is following what is going on, and I'm in touch with the President, who makes intensive efforts in order to address this security situation, which can only be done with the cooperation of all armed groups with the State's agencies." Hoping that the ceasefire will be permanent, the UN envoy said "The conflict broken out in the recent days threatens the security of Yemen." "There are now large crowds of militants in different areas, a matter that, of course, has major security implications." Benomar said that the step achieved by the cooperation of all parties, calling on them to adopt dialogue and cooperation to address primarily the humanitarian situation that exists now in Dammaj. He said that the important now is to ensure the ceasefire be implemented immediately and permanently, and then work on solving other problems behind this conflict. Sa'ada governor Fares Manna confirmed today that 23 wounded people have been evacuated from Dammaj area by the ICRC. He added that the ICRC's team access to Dammaj was secured to transport the injured. Head of the ICRC delegation in Sana'a Cedric Schweizer said that the Committee managed on Monday to enter Dammaj to provide the emergency assistance and evacuate the wounded, praising the cooperation of the Sa'ada local authority.