IT’S CEASEFIRE AT LAST: GUNS FALL SILENT IN HODEIDA
sanaa — Yemen’s key port city of Hodeida was calm on Tuesday morning, hours after a UN-mediated ceasefire went into effect between government-allied forces and the country’s rebels, Yemeni officials said.
Fighting subsided as the ceasefire took effect, with only the sporadic sound of automatic weapons fire heard in the city, where the port handles about 70 per cent of Yemen’s imports.
Yemen’s four-year conflict pits the internationally recognised government, backed by a Saudiled coalition, against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called for its forces to “cease fire in both Hodeida city and the province” also named Hodeida, according to a statement from Hadi’s Defence Ministry. The rebels also welcomed the ceasefire in the key port city. The agreement came during UN-sponsored talks in Sweden last week. A joint committee led by UN officers will oversee the ceasefire and the redeployment of the warring parties’ forces out of Hodeida, which is currently controlled by the Houthis. Local authorities and police will run the city and its three
port facilities under UN supervision, and the two sides are barred from bringing in reinforcements.
UN envoy Martin Griffith has said the committee is expected to start its work swiftly “to translate the momentum built up in Sweden into achievements on the ground”.
The ceasefire is the first step in a process the UN hopes will lead to a province-wide truce in Hodeida and the demilitarisation of the Red Sea trade corridor, said Peter Salisbury, a consulting senior analyst on Yemen at the Brussels-based Crisis Group.
Delegations from the government and the rebels said earlier this month in Sweden that they have exchanged prisoner lists. The lists will be reviewed over four weeks, ahead of a final swap to be facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, they said. —
sanaa — Yemen’s flashpoint city of Hodeida was calm on Tuesday as a ceasefire took effect and a team including members of the warring sides prepared to monitor the truce agreed at talks in Sweden.
A lasting ceasefire would be a major step in efforts to end Yemen’s devastating war, which has killed thousands and left 14 million people on the brink of famine.
The truce which came into force overnight was due to be followed by a team of observers deploying “within 24 hours”, a United Nations official said.
The Redeployment Coordination Committee includes members of the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels but is chaired by the UN, said the official who requested anonymity.
“Both parties said publicly they are abiding by the ceasefire,” the official told AFP.
The observers are due to oversee the implementation of the truce, the withdrawal of both warring parties from Hodeida city and the pullout of Huthis from its major ports. The committee chair is expected to report to the UN Security
Council on a weekly basis, as part of a diplomatic push to end the conflict which erupted in 2014.
The war between the Houthi rebels and troops loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escalated in 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition stepped in on the government’s side.
Since then some 10,000 people have been killed, according to the World Health Organisation, but some rights groups believe the toll is far higher.
The ceasefire was meant to enter into force at midnight (2100 GMT) on Monday but clashes continued until 3am, pro-government sources and residents said. Calm held on Tuesday morning in Hodeida city,
whose port is the gateway for the vast majority of imports to Yemen.
“There has been complete calm since 3am Yemen time in the city of Hodeida,” a military source loyal to the government told AFP. Residents confirmed by phone that there has been no fighting between the government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition and Iranaligned Huthi rebels since 3am. But it was not possible to determine if the halt in fighting was in response to the ceasefire or just a temporary stoppage.
Residents said that daily fighting would usually be fierce in the evening and at night, before coming to a standstill at dawn. The two warring sides have welcomed the truce
in the strategic Red Sea province.
The agreement reached last week included an “immediate ceasefire” in Hodeida and its surrounds, but the truce was delayed as fighting continued.
UN envoy Martin Griffiths said on Sunday that the UN was working with both sides to ensure the ceasefire accord was “implemented timely and properly”. In addition to the withdrawal of fighters
from Hodeida, the agreement included a planned prisoner swap involving some 15,000 detainees.
A “mutual understanding” was also reached to facilitate aid deliveries to Taiz.
The two sides have agreed to meet again in late January for more talks to define the framework for negotiations on a comprehensive peace settlement. —