U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he will discuss a proposed “humanitarian pause” for war-ravaged Yemen when he travels to Saudi Arabia later Wednesday.

Secretary of state also announced $68 million in new U.S. aid to Yemen during a stop in the East African nation of Djibouti Wednesday.

The State Department said the funds will support agencies providing food, water, shelter and other assistance to 16 million Yemenis in need.

For the past month, Saudi Arabia has conducted airstrikes against Houthi rebels trying to overthrow the Yemeni government.

In Djibouti, Kerry met with President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, and thanked them for their assistance to hundreds of Americans who sought refuge from the violence in Yemen, which is located just across the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti.

A day after becoming the first secretary of state to visit Somalia, Kerry is also the first to go to Djibouti.

Kerry was set to meet later Wednesday with U.S. officials at the U.S. military base Camp Lemmonier. The U.S. military installment in Djibouti, a former French colony, has become an important part of the U.S. military presence in the Middle East and eastern Africa.

The secretary of state heads to Saudi Arabia later Wednesday. Later in the week, he travels to France for talks on regional security and ceremonies marking the end of World War Two in Europe.

VOA

[ad name=”HTML”]

[ad name=”HTML-6″]