UN envoy sees troop withdrawal in Yemen's Hodeidah within weeks

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Yemen's warring parties could start withdrawing forces from the main Red Sea port city of Hodeidah within weeks, a move needed to pave the way for political negotiations to end the four-year war, the UN special envoy said on Thursday.

United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said he had received on Sunday the formal acceptance of the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthi group to implement the first phase of troop redeployments, while discussions were still underway for the second phase.

The UN has struggled to implement a pact agreed at talks last December in Sweden, the first breakthrough in peace efforts to end the war that has killed tens of thousands and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

"The two parties agreed formally to the concept of operations for phase one. What we are doing now is moving on as planned from there to agree on phase two," said Griffiths, adding that talks would intensify in coming days.

"So we don't have an exact date at the moment for the beginning of this physical redeployment," he said. "It's got to be weeks, hopefully, few weeks."

It is said the first phase would see the Houthis leave the city's ports and pro-government forces leave some areas on the city's outskirts. In the second phase, both sides would pull troops to 18 kilometers from the city and heavy weapons 30 kilometers away.

The Hodeidah deal was a trust-building step aimed at averting a full-scale assault on Hodeidah by the Saudi-led coalition trying to restore the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and paving the way for political talks to set up a transitional government.

A ceasefire in Hodeidah has largely held but violence has escalated elsewhere in the country. The troop withdrawal was due to have been completed by January 7 but stalled over a disagreement on who would control the Red Sea port city.

Hodeidah handles the bulk of Yemen's commercial and aid supplies and is critical for feeding the population of 30 million people. It became a focus of fighting last year, raising concern that an all-out assault could disrupt supply lines and trigger mass starvation in the poorest Arabian Peninsula nation.

"I know we're spending an enormous amount of time, and rightly so, on Hodeidah, but it's the gateway to the comprehensive settlement and of course failure in Hodeida is not an option," the UN envoy said.

"The aim ultimately of an agreement which will resolve the conflict and end this war is to return governing of Yemen to politicians, to return to the people of Yemen accountable government," said Griffiths.

(Top image: A police trooper stands guard on a street in Hodeidah, February 13, 2019. /Reuters photo)

Source(s): Reuters