Ceasefire goes into force
Sporadic gunfire heard in port city
YEMEN’S key port city of Hodeida was calm yesterday morning, hours after a UN-mediated ceasefire went into effect between government-allied forces and the country’s rebels, Yemeni officials said.
The officials said intense fighting erupted between governmentallied forces and Shia rebels at the Red Sea port city of Hodeida on Monday.
They said artillery shelling and heavy machine gunfire shook districts in the south and east of the strategic city before midnight. Only the sporadic sound of gunfire fire was heard in the city later, where the port handles about 70% of Yemen’s imports.
Yemen’s four-year conflict pits the internationally recognised government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against Shia rebels known as Houthis.
The government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called for its forces to “cease fire in both Hodeida city and the province”, also named Hodeida, said a statement from Hadi’s defence ministry. The rebels also welcomed the ceasefire in the 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.
The war has pushed much of the country to the brink of famine.
UN officials said 22 million of its 29 million people were in need of aid. |