ANSD : UN envoy in Yemen for talks on Hodeida truce

MON 25 - 11 - 2024

Date: Jan 21, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

UN envoy in Yemen for talks on Hodeida truce

_{Agence France Presse}
SANAA: The U.N. envoy for Yemen landed in rebel-held Sanaa Monday for talks aimed at shoring up a truce between rebels and a government alliance in the port city of Hodeida.

Diplomat Martin Griffiths landed in the capital at around 10:30 am local time, an official at Sanaa airport told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A U.N. source confirmed the news, saying Griffiths was in Yemen to "work on the rapid implementation of the Hodeida agreement."

Griffiths hosted hard-won peace talks between Yemen's government, allied with a powerful Arab coalition, and Houthi rebels in Sweden last month.

Monday's visit marks Griffiths' second trip to Yemen this month.

Yemen's government coalition and rebels agreed to a cease-fire in Hodeida, the Red Sea city seized by the Houthis in 2014 and home to impoverished Yemen's most valuable port.

The Hodeida agreement stipulates the withdrawal and redeployment of rival forces from the city, two clauses that have yet to be fulfilled.

Rebel-held Hodeida was for months the main front line in the Yemen war after government forces supported by Saudi Arabia and its allies launched an offensive to capture it in June.

But a precarious calm has largely held in the city since a ceasefire agreement came into force on Dec. 18.

The U.N. said a team tasked with monitoring the truce, led by chief monitor Patrick Cammaert, came under fire in Hodeida on Friday but was unharmed.

The U.N. did not identify who was behind the shooting.

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