GENEVA - The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said on Friday that momentum to reach a political settlement in Yemen “has been building”.

The Special Envoy cited developments such as the Riyadh Agreement, signed on 5 November between the Government and the Southern Transitional Council; a decrease in violence – with the observation that there have been 48-hour periods without airstrikes “for the first time since the conflict began” – and the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, which among other things, has enabled fuel ships to enter the crucial port city tof Hudaydah, averting a worsening humanitarian crisis.

“We have seen the parties work together”, said Martin Griffiths, including on the situation in southern governorates, the de-escalation of hostilities and economic crisis facing the war-torn nation, where a Saudi-led coalition backing the Government has been trying to defeat Houthi rebel forces during more than four years of brutal fighting.

Mr. Griffiths avowed that Yemen now needs “the kind of leadership that creates peace”, a leader who practices “the art or concession, of inclusion, and who encourages forbearance over entitlement”.