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Britain Presents U.N. Resolution Demanding Immediate Yemen Ceasefire | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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The United Nations Security Council votes to approve a resolution at the U.N. headquarters in New York July 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar


New York-British Ambassador to the U.N. Britain Matthew Rycroft has said that his country submitted on Friday night a draft resolution to the Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in Yemen.

“We have decided to put forward a draft Security Council resolution on Yemen calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a resumption of the political process,” the British Ambassador told reporters in New York.

The draft text is expected to be circulated to the council’s 15 members in the coming days, diplomats said. But it is not clear when the council will vote on it.

The council’s next monthly meeting on Yemen, during which U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed provides a briefing on the latest developments, is expected to be held on October 20.

Britain’s submission of the draft comes a day before a quartet meeting on Yemen that is scheduled to be held in London on Sunday.

Tobias Ellwood, the UK’s minister for the Middle East and North Africa, has called for London’s meeting to discuss the attacks of Houthi militias on ships in Yemeni territorial waters.

Britain’s decision to seek a formal resolution at the Security Council came after Russia blocked a statement drafted by Britain that condemned the incident of the Great Hall.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the statement was “wishy-washy,” and called for “some very serious thinking” on how to address the deteriorating situation in Yemen.

Russia has previously blocked an attempt by Britain to issue a statement following the Houthis’ establishment of the so-called Political Council.