UN sends more staff to monitor Yemen truce
The UN Security Council yesterday unanimously approved an expanded ceasefire-monitoring mission in Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah.
The resolution allows 75 observers to be stationed there for six months to ensure the fragile truce stays on track.
It will almost quadruple the number of UN staff under Patrick Cammaert, who is responsible for enforcing the ceasefire agreed to between Yemen’s government and the Houthi rebels during peace talks in Sweden last month.
Hodeidah is the point of entry for most of the nation’s commercial goods and aid, and the truce is considered crucial to speed up deliveries of food and medical supplies to people going hungry because of the war.
Both sides are required to stop fighting, pull back their forces and allow the port to come under the control of local authorities and the UN.
The UK said the move confirmed the commitment of the international community to the deal.
In Amman, meanwhile, Yemen’s warring parties met yesterday to discuss a prisoner exchange deal, as Germany prepares to host a conference to secure peace in the country.
The meeting in Amman is the first time delegations representing Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government have met for direct talks since UN-led peace talks ended in Sweden.
It came as Alistair Burt, the British Minister for the Middle East, said conditions were coming into place for a second round of talks to be held in the next few weeks.
Mr Burt said it was important that another meeting take place to maintain momentum.
“The effect on the ground has been for things to be much quieter than they were. There are sporadic incidents but there was bound to be,” he said.
“The ceasefire is holding and there have been benefits on both sides. My understanding is to keep those talks going.”
A letter from the UAE Embassy in London to the House of Lords, which was obtained by The National, called for international pressure on the Houthis to end breaches of the agreement.
“The campaign to liberate the Red Sea coast and specifically the city of Hodeidah has dramatically changed the dynamics of the conflict,” the letter read.
“It was achieved without damage to Hodeidah port or the city’s civilian population. That required extraordinary self-restraint by Yemeni forces and their Coalition allies.
“The Houthis showed no such concern for collateral damage.
“Not only did they mine entrances to the port, they diverted food aid for sale on the black market, used warehouses holding humanitarian aid as vantage points for snipers and placed heavy weapons in civilian neighbourhoods.”
Mr Burt said scrutiny of aid distribution in Yemen had shifted and Houthi abuses were now studied as never before.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the prisoner exchange.
The head of the government’s delegation to the meeting, Hadi Haig, expressed hopes that talks would achieve progress on the implementation of the deal.