Yemen's Houthis begin withdrawal from Hodeidah port

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Yemen's Houthi rebel forces have started to redeploy from the port of Hodeidah, the country's key aid lifeline, under a peace agreement reached in Sweden earlier December, an official from the United Nations (UN) said on Saturday.

The Iranian-aligned Houthis have agreed with the Saudi-backed government to implement a ceasefire in the Red Sea city Hodeidah and withdraw their respective forces.

Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, the head of a UN advance team charged with monitoring the ceasefire, arrived in the strategic city this week.

Under the deal, international monitors are to be deployed in Hodeidah and a Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) including both sides, chaired by Cammaert, will oversee the implementation. The committee started its meetings this week.

Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert (C) arrives at the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, December 29, 2018. /VCG Photo

A UN source said the Houthi forces, which control the city and its strategic port, had started to redeploy overnight.

Hodeidah's Houthi governor, Mohammed Ayash Qaheem, said that the group's fighters had withdrawn from the port as specified in the peace agreement, handing control to local units of Yemeni coast guards who were in charge of protecting ports before the war. These will be under UN supervision.

The Houthis' withdrawal from the three ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Rass Issa is intended to be the first step in the implementation of the agreement, to be followed by both sides pulling their forces out of the city and the surrounding province.

Military officials from the government forces, which control some southern parts of the city of Hodeidah, said they needed time to establish if the Houthi forces had really withdrawn from the ports.

Members of a Yemeni coast guard force ride on the back of a patrol truck during their deployment in Hodeidah, December 29, 2018. /VCG Photo

The government fears that the coast guards may remain loyal to the Houthi-controlled Sana'a government after the withdrawal.

It is still unclear how far the forces will withdraw and who will eventually control the three ports and the city, or if the two sides will share control with UN monitors positioned between the two fronts.

Cammaert's team will not be uniformed or armed, said the UN, but it will provide support for the management of and inspections at the ports, and strengthen the UN presence in the city.

The agreement, the first significant breakthrough in peace efforts in five years, was part of confidence-building measures intended to pave the way for a wider truce and a framework for political negotiations.

Vendors and customers at a fish market in Hodeidah, December 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

The international community has been trying for months to avert an all-out government assault on Hodeidah, the entry point for most of Yemen's commercial goods and aid supplies, and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis on the verge of starvation.

The truce came into force on December 18.

On Friday, the UN said both parties had agreed to begin opening humanitarian corridors, starting with the key coastal road between Hodeidah and the Houthi-held capital, Sana'a.

The parties are due to present detailed plans for a full redeployment to Cammaert at the next RCC meeting on January 1, said the UN in a statement.

Source(s): Reuters