You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it.

Last December's ceasefire deal, which brought a halt to the fighting around the crucial port city of Houdada,

was the first glimmer of positive news seen by the people of Yemen in many years.

The uneasy truce between the rebel Houthi forces in the port and the Saudi-led coalition

determined to dislodge them was supposed to enable the UN to ramp up the flow of humanitarian

assistance to a population in desperate need of food

and medical assistance. In reality, the situation is little improved. Many millions of Yemenis

are still threatened by starvation and the spread of diseases such as cholera. And the conflict that has

torn Yemen apart and drawn in regional powers in the spread of diseases such as cholera. And the conflict that has torn Yemen apart and drawn in regional powers

in the form of Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as the United States

remains as intractable as ever.

My guest today is the foreign minister of the Saudi-backed government of Yemen, Khalid Hussein

al-Yemani. His base is in Riyadh, but he's currently

in Poland, attending a Middle East conference organized by the U.S. government. Isn't the grim truth

that right now there is no diplomatic or political initiative capable of saving Yemen.

Well, Khalid Hussein al-Yemani joins me now on the line from Warsaw.

Welcome to Hard Talk.

Thank you for having me.

Minister, it's good to have you on the program.

Let me start with words from the UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, that he made on the eve of this conference

in Warsaw that you are attending on the Middle East. He said, we now have a shortening window of

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