Yemen’s rivals are not only clashing on the ground but battling economically for revenue from ports

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. envoy says sporadic armed clashes between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and government forces are straining peace efforts, and the rivals are now also battling over revenue from ports, trade, banking and natural resources. The U.N. special representative for Yemen told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that the fight over economic wealth “has become inseparable from the political and military conflict.” Hans Grundberg says that fighting has decreased in Yemen markedly since an April 2022 truce, but that “continued sparks of violence” and threats to return to large-scale fighting have increased fear and tensions. He says that the “the situation on the ground remains fragile.”