See how peace talks are paying off

PARTIES CLOSER TO ACHIEVING PHASE 1 REDEPLOYMENT THAN SIX WEEKS AGO

Parties closer to achieving phase 1 redeployment than 6 weeks ago

Three days of UN-brokered talks between Yemen’s government and Al Houthi rebels have brought the warring parties closer to agreement on redeploying their forces from the flashpoint of Hodeida, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Envoys from the two sides have been meeting aboard a UN vessel in the port of Hodeida since Sunday to hammer out details of the military pullback in line with a ceasefire deal reached in Sweden in December.

The UN push to persuade progovernment forces and Al Houthi militias to abide by the Sweden agreement is “beginning to pay off,” said a UN statement.

“Today, the parties are closer to agreeing modalities for phase one redeployment than they were six weeks ago,” it added.

The ceasefire and the redeployment of forces agreed in Sweden have been hailed as major step toward ending Yemen’s devastating four-year war, but UN officials have warned that the peace gains are fragile.

The talks aboard the ship were led by retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, who on Tuesday handed over his duties as head of the UN observer mission in Yemen to Danish General Michael Lollesgaard.

Lollesgaard was due to chair a new round of talks aboard the ship yesterday. The meetings were to address the “complexities of disengaging forces in close proximity of each other and the gradual redeployment of heavy weapons, armor, and infantry,” added the statement.