U.N. votes to extend cease-fire in Yemen

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the mandate of the U.N. mission helping to implement a December 2018 cease-fire agreement between Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels. The deal calls for the withdrawal of fighters from the key port of Hodeida, two smaller ports in the province and Hodeida city.

A U.N.-brokered agreement, reached in Stockholm, was vague on who would run the port of Hodeida after the withdrawals. The resolution extends the mandate of the U.N. mission, known as UNMHA, until July 14, 2023.

The resolution highlighted an “ongoing Houthi hindrance” to the U.N. mission’s freedom of movement and patrols.

However, the Security Council welcomed a two-month truce between the internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthis that took effect April 2. It was extended for an additional two months on June 2.

The council called “for a strengthened truce to be translated into a durable cease-fire and an inclusive, comprehensive political settlement under the auspices of the United Nations.”

U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the council Monday that he plans to explore the possibility of a longer and expanded truce with the country’s warring parties in the coming weeks.

The resolution adopted Wednesday welcomed the Yemeni government’s flexibility in enabling the entry of fuel ships into Hodeida and enabling flights between Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the Jordanian capital, Amman, and between Sanaa and Cairo.