Date: Dec 18, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Yemen cease-fire monitors to deploy within 24 hours: UN Hodeida calm after ceasefire takes effect Agence France Presse DUBAI: A team including members of Yemen's warring sides will be dispatched within a day to monitor a truce deal in Hodeida city, a United Nations official said Tuesday. "The Redeployment Coordination Committee [RCC] is expected to start its work within the next 24 hours," the official, who requested anonymity, told AFP. The RCC includes members of the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels but is chaired by the United Nations. "Both parties said publicly they are abiding by the cease-fire," the U.N. official said. The observers are due to oversee the implementation of the truce, the withdrawal of both warring parties from Hodeida city and the pullout of Houthis from its major ports. The committee chair is expected to report to the U.N. Security Council on a weekly basis. The ceasefire was meant to enter into force at midnight Monday but clashes continued until 03:00 a.m., pro-government sources and residents said. Yemen's Hodeida calm after ceasefire takes effect Agence France Presse SANAA: Yemen's flashpoint city of Hodeida was calm Tuesday following heavy clashes that erupted after a U.N.-brokered ceasefire started at midnight, pro-government sources and residents said. The truce agreed at the U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Sweden came into effect at midnight Monday, but sources said heavy clashes and air raids continued after the deadline. "There has been complete calm since 03:00 a.m. Yemen time [1200 GMT] in the city of Hodeida," a military source loyal to the government told AFP Tuesday. Residents confirmed by phone that there has been no fighting between the government forces backed by the Arab coalition and Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 03:00 a.m. 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 however welcomed the truce in the strategic Red Sea province. Both the internationally-recognized government and the Houthi rebels said they would comply with the ceasefire. The United Nations said Monday that the deal was to be implemented at midnight, even though the agreement reached in Sweden last week included an "immediate ceasefire" in Hodeida and its surroundings. A U.N. official, who requested anonymity, told AFP that the delay was necessary for "operational reasons." U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths said Sunday that the U.N. was working with both sides to ensure the ceasefire accord was "implemented timely and properly." The truce is supposed to be followed by the withdrawal of fighters from Hodeida, whose port is the entry point for the vast majority of imports to Yemen. A prisoner swap involving some 15,000 detainees is planned and a "mutual understanding" was reached to facilitate aid deliveries to Yemen's third city Taiz – under the control of loyalists but besieged by rebels. The two sides also agreed to meet again in late January for more talks to define the framework for negotiations on a comprehensive peace settlement. Ahead of the ceasefire coming into force, residents in Hodeida city hoped Monday that it would lead to lasting peace. "We are hopeful that things will go back to the way they were and that there would be no aggression, no airstrikes and lasting security," Amani Mohammad told AFP. Another Hodeida resident, Mohammad al-Saikel, said he was optimistic the ceasefire would pave the way for a broader truce. "We are hopeful about this ceasefire in Hodeida and one for Yemen in general," he said. "We will reach out in peace to whoever does the same." Impoverished Yemen has been mired in fighting between the Houthi rebels and troops loyal to President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi since 2014. The war escalated in 2015 when the coalition stepped in on the government's side. Since then some 10,000 people have been killed, according to the World Health Organization, but some rights groups believe the toll is far higher.