Local Editor
The United Nations welcomed on Sunday any redeployment of Yemen’s Houthi forces away from the port city of Hodeida.
On Saturday, the movement started to leave the port of the Red Sea city as part of a U.N.-sponsored cease-fire signed in Sweden in December with the Saudi-backed resigned regime.
The group said its fighters were withdrawing as specified in the agreement, handing control to local Yemeni coast guard units who were in charge of protecting ports before the war. These will be under U.N. supervision.
“Any redeployment would only be credible if all parties and the United Nations are able to observe and verify that it is in line with the Stockholm Agreement,” the United Nations said in a statement.
The United Nations said on Friday both parties had agreed to begin opening humanitarian corridors, starting with the key coastal road between Hodeida and the capital Sana’a.
The international community has been trying for months to avert an all-out regime assault on Hodeida, the entry point for most of Yemen’s commercial goods and aid supplies, and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis on the verge of starvation.
Under the Stockholm agreement, both parties agreed on a cease-fire in Hodeida province and to withdraw their respective forces.
International monitors are to be deployed in Hodeida and a Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) including both sides, chaired by Cammaert, will oversee implementation. The committee started its meetings this week.
Both parties are due to present detailed plans for a full redeployment to Cammaert at the next RCC meeting on Jan. 1, the United Nations said in a statement.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
