Local Editor
Fighting has subsided in Yemen’s Hodeida, hours after a United Nations (UN)-brokered ceasefire between warring sides took effect in the flashpoint port city.
The truce was reached last week in Sweden during peace talks between delegations from Yemen’s Houthi movement and the former, Saudi-allied regime, on whose behalf a Saudi-led coalition has been pounding Yemen since March 2015.
The ceasefire took force at midnight on Monday. And while sporadic clashes and Saudi-led airstrikes continued to hit Hodeida for several hours after midnight, they subsequently died down.
Fighting has subsided in Yemen’s Hodeida, hours after a United Nations (UN)-brokered ceasefire between warring sides took effect in the flashpoint port city.
The truce was reached last week in Sweden during peace talks between delegations from Yemen’s Houthi movement and the former, Saudi-allied regime, on whose behalf a Saudi-led coalition has been pounding Yemen since March 2015.
The ceasefire took force at midnight on Monday. And while sporadic clashes and Saudi-led airstrikes continued to hit Hodeida for several hours after midnight, they subsequently died down.
Separately, diplomats said that the UN Security Council was considering a draft resolution that would ask Secretary General Antonio Guterres to put forward proposals by the end of the month on how to monitor the Hodeida ceasefire.
Britain circulated the motion among the Security Council’s 15 members on Monday, but it was not clear when it would be put to a vote.
The draft, seen by Reuters, asks Guterres to submit proposals on “how the United Nations will support the Stockholm Agreement as requested by the parties, including, but not limited to, monitoring operations for the ceasefire and mutual redeployment of forces from the city of Hodeida and the ports of Hodeida, Salif and Ras Issa.”
The draft resolution further “calls on all parties to the conflict to take further steps to facilitate the unhindered flow of commercial and humanitarian supplies including food, fuel, medicine and other essential imports and humanitarian personnel into and across the country.”
Hodeida, a lifeline for millions of Yemeni people, is the entry point for most of the country’s commercial goods and vital aid. The port has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched an offensive against Hodeida in June but have faced strong resistance from Yemeni armed forces — led by the Houthis — as well as the city’s residents.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
