Truce brings hope for Yemen, but peace could prove elusive
SANAA, YEMEN — A cease-fire on Tuesday halted months of heavy fighting in Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, raising hopes that the latest U.N.led peace efforts can end the civil war and alleviate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
But the truce in the Red Sea city remains fragile, and it’s unclear if the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels can reach a wider peace agreement despite mounting international pressure to end the war.
Yemeni officials said the fighting in Hodeida subsided early Tuesday as the cease-fire took effect, with only sporadic fire from automatic weapons heard across the city.
Some 70 percent of Yemen’s food imports and humanitarian aid enter through Hodeida, which remained open even as the Saudi-led coalition waged a months-long campaign that failed to dislodge the rebels. Aid groups feared the port’s closure could plunge Yemen into famine.
The truce agreement, reached last week at U.N.brokered talks in Sweden, calls on both sides to withdraw from the city and its outskirts. A joint committee led by U.N. officers will oversee the cease-fire and the redeployment of forces. Local authorities and police will run the city and its three port facilities under U.N. supervision.
U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths has said the committee will get to work swiftly “to translate the momentum built up in Sweden into achievements on the ground.”
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, who has been appointed to head the coordination committee overseeing the cease-fire, will depart New York with a team later this week headed for Yemen.
He said the Dutch general will convene a first meeting of the committee, which includes military and security representatives from the government and the rebels, by videoconference on Wednesday.