GENEVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday it is encouraged by the clearance of a humanitarian flight to the Yemeni capital to Sana'a from Amman starting Saturday.
That may be followed soon by flights from Djibouti to Sanaa in Yemen with humanitarian supplies.
The UN said it has been notified through contacts in Riyadh that a regular UN humanitarian flight can fly to Sanaa, but that the sea blockade on the conflict-ridden country seems still to be in force.
Sanaa airport controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels was reopened and received two planes carrying humanitarian aid and diplomats on Nov. 22 after two weeks of closure imposed by a Saudi-led coalition.
The first flight was for the International Committee of the Red Cross carrying humanitarian aid landed in the airport in the morning.
Another plane carrying Russian diplomats landed in the airport an hour later, according to the officials and Saba agency, but UN officials had said there is an urgent need to get in more humanitarian aid.
"With the cholera outbreak just starting to diminish in the country, we have been worried that the gains we've made on cholera and the gains we've made on famine would be reversed by this blockade," said Jens Laerke, OCHSA's deputy spokesperson said at a media briefing in Geneva.
"Thankfully we are starting to see some movement."
He said, however, there has been no substantial change since Nov. 23 regarding requests for clearance to go by boat to Hudaydah and Saleef seaports with humanitarian supplies.
Laerke said that the UN has requested to bring in a ship that is currently offshore with wheat, to Hudaydah. There is another boat waiting in Djibouti with cholera equipment which could come in to Hudaydah as well.
"We stress the critical importance of also resuming commercial imports, in particular fuel supplies for our humanitarian response and for water pumping," he said.
OCHA said humanitarians are serving the needs of 7 million people who are completely dependent on it.
"We are for example supplying clean water to 4 million people. This is at a time of threat of famine in the country," Laerke noted.
On Nov. 6, Saudi Arabia-led military coalition forced closure of Houthi-controlled air, land and sea ports after the Nov. 4 Houthi ballistic missile attack over the Saudi capital Riyadh.
UN relief agencies warned of mass famine and health catastrophes in Yemen's north due to the all-out blockade.
