Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants all factions in the Yemeni conflict to give peace a chance and allow the agreement worked out recently in Stockholm an opportunity to work.

He said the highest priority must be given to immediately end the fighting and bombing so that civilians could receive emergency food assistance and medical attention.

“The people of Yemen deserve it. Our faith demands it.

“If both Yemeni factions to the conflict need time to regain trust and confidence in each other, they should immediately consider declaring the port city of Hodeidah an open city under temporary United Nations control so that a safe zone could be established to provide humanitarian assistance.

“It is time for the killing to stop; it is time to start rebuilding Yemen again,” he said at the “Stand With Yemen” Symposium and Photo Exhibition here yesterday.

His speech was read out by Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

The war in Yemen, said Dr Mahathir, was now entering its fourth year, and the cost of human suffering was beyond imagination, with thousands of innocent civilians killed and millions more displaced and adversely impacted by famine and disease.

What began as a civil war had now drawn in outside powers ready to fight to the last Yemeni child to advance their own agenda, he said.

“Nations that style themselves as bastions of democracy and human rights have fuelled the conflict in Yemen with billions of dollars in arms sales to the region – arms that are now being used to indiscriminately bomb, kill or maim innocent civilians, including children.

“And they are doing this without any regard to international conventions or even their own laws. It is utterly hypocritical to talk about human rights and democracy while taking part in mass murder,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said Malaysia would pledge US$100,000 (RM407,500) during the pledging event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

AFP.