Sana’a Demands the United Nations Assume Responsibility to Reopen Sana’a International Airport
A meeting was held in Sana’a today, bringing together the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Jamal Amer, and the Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mohammed Qahim.
The meeting discussed ways to address the catastrophic repercussions resulting from the Israeli aggression, which targeted the infrastructure of Sana’a International Airport and civilian aircraft of Yemenia Airlines, causing the airport’s closure. This has deprived millions of Yemenis of their fundamental human right to travel, particularly critical medical cases who urgently need to travel abroad for treatment.
The meeting also addressed the tragedy facing hundreds of thousands of Yemeni citizens stranded abroad and unable to return home via the country’s main air port, especially students studying abroad and expatriates stranded in airports around the world.
During the meeting, the Foreign Minister stressed that the continued closure of Sana’a International Airport to the Yemeni people and their right to travel abroad and return to their country is unacceptable.
He particularly criticized the negative and weak role of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, regarding the suffering of the Yemeni people.
Minister Amer pointed to the absurd use of the Special Envoy’s plane on a weekly basis, while refusing to transport critical humanitarian cases, resulting in the deaths of two cases, and refusing to repatriate some Yemenis stranded abroad.
He held the United Nations and its envoy responsible for finding an urgent solution to this serious problem that affects the lives of millions, stressing that it is illogical for Sana’a International Airport to remain closed while all airports in the region are operating normally.
The Foreign Minister stated, “Travel is a basic human right,” calling on the international community and countries in the region to cooperate seriously with the Sana’a government to fully restore the airport to operation without any restrictions.
For his part, Minister of Transport and Public Works, Qahim, explained that Sana’a International Airport is technically capable of receiving civilian passenger aircraft, exposing the role of countries obstructing its reopening to commercial air traffic.
He praised the important national role and efforts of specialists and technicians at the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Meteorology and Sana’a Airport, who worked to ensure the continued operation and maintenance of the airport despite the terrorist attacks carried out by the Israeli enemy.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and Transport and Public Works agreed to form a working group from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Meteorology to discuss proposals and develop urgent alternatives that would ensure the airport’s resumption of operations and its reception of civilian commercial flights as soon as possible, thus alleviating the great humanitarian suffering of the Yemeni people.
The meeting was attended by Acting President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Meteorology, Alawi Al-Houthi, and a number of the Authority’s undersecretaries, general managers, and officials from Sana’a International Airport.
