Local Editor
The chair of a committee formed by the United Nations, Retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, arrived in Yemen's Aden on Saturday.
Cammaert is expected to head to Hodeida within two days.
Members of the initial advance team are expected to arrive in the Yemeni capital Sana’a within the next few hours.
The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously authorized a UN observer team to begin monitoring and facilitating the ceasefire established in Yemen's strategic port city of Hodeida.
The ceasefire, agreed to earlier this month in Sweden, is a key move in bringing some relief to Yemen, devastated by a four-year civil war that has pushed the nation into humanitarian disaster.
The organization endorsed a resolution that authorizes a 30-day "advance team to begin monitoring and to support and facilitate the immediate implementation" of the ceasefire agreement.
It calls on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to submit a proposal before the end of the month on how the United Nations will fully support the ceasefire agreement, including "substantive monitoring operations," reached during the peace talks in Sweden between Yemen's popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and the resigned regime.
The text calls for forces from both groups to be redeployed away from the ceasefire areas within 21 days of the truce coming into effect, which took place on Tuesday.
Hodeida, in western Yemen, is of strategic importance because of its port, which is the entry point for some 80 per cent of Yemen's imports and aid.
In June, the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government began a major offensive to seize the city, which has been under the control of Iran-backed rebels since late 2014.
The British-drafted resolution asks Guterres to update the council within one week.
Source: Yemenwatch.net
