ANSD : Arab coalition leaders ask U.N. to pressure Houthis

SAT 23 - 11 - 2024

Date: Feb 2, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Arab coalition leaders ask U.N. to pressure Houthis

_{Agence France Presse}
UNITED NATIONS: Yemen’s government and its allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates asked the U.N. Security Council to turn up the pressure on Houthi rebels to uphold a cease-fire deal. In a letter sent to the council Thursday, the three governments accused the Houthis of violating the cease-fire in the port city of Hodeida 970 times since it came into force on Dec. 18.

They asked the council to “impress upon the Huthis, and their Iranian backers, that they will be held responsible if their continued failure to comply ... leads to the collapse of the Stockholm agreement,” the letter seen by AFP said.

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and the Houthis agreed to the cease-fire and a redeployment of forces from Hodeida during U.N.-brokered talks in Sweden last month.

But deadlines for the pullback of forces and a prisoner swap have slipped, fueling worries the Stockholm agreement may be in jeopardy.

United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash met with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss problems in implementing the Stockholm deal.

“We understand that we need to exercise patience, but it can’t be infinite,” Gargash told reporters.

The minister raised concerns of a flare-up on the ground, triggered by a Houthi provocation.

“We do not want to launch an offensive” in Hodeida, Gargash said.

“What we want is for the U.N. and the international community to exert influence and to do that work” and create pressure on the Houthis to comply with the cease-fire deal, he said.

The Houthis have accused the Arab coalition of wrongfully violating its commitments under the Stockholm agreement.

The council met behind closed doors to hear a report from United Nations envoy Martin Griffiths who has wrapped up a new round of shuttle diplomacy.

For nearly four years, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been locked in a war with a regional pro-government alliance led by the Saudi capital.

The conflict has given rise to what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people at risk of starvation.

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