Egypt has welcomed the ceasefire initiative announced by Saudi Arabia to end the six-year-old crisis in Yemen between the Yemeni government, supported by the kingdom and its coalition, and the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, and reach a comprehensive political solution. An official statement released by the Egyptian foreign ministry on Monday said that Cairo appreciates the "sincere" efforts exerted by the kingdom to end the ongoing humanitarian and political crisis in Yemen. Egypt is calling on all Yemeni parties to respond to the Saudi initiative to end the bloodshed and support efforts to bring peace to Yemen, read the statement. Saudi Arabia's initiative calls for holding a ceasefire overseen by the UN across the war-torn country, reopening Sanaa International Airport to a number of direct regional and international destinations, and starting UN-sponsored consultations between the Yemeni parties to reach a political resolution. The conflict in Yemen started after the 2014 takeover of the capital Sanaa by the Houthis, which led the Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government. Since the Saudi coalition's intervention, the Kingdom has intercepted hundreds of drone and missile strikes by the Houthis. The UN warned on Tuesday that Yemen is speeding towards "a massive famine." The Yemeni conflict has taken a toll on the Yemeni economy and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to a report released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in December. The war has caused an estimated 233,000 deaths, 131,000 of whom died indirectly – mainly due to malnutrition and lack of healthcare, the report added. The problems are exacerbated by epidemics, as cholera infected over 180,000 last year before the onset of COVID-19. Around 4.4 million have been displaced and more than 13 million have fallen into poverty.
