HODEIDA, Yemen, Dec 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A UN-led team tasked with
monitoring a ceasefire met Wednesday in Yemen’s flashpoint city of Hodeida,
after sporadic clashes underscored the fragility of the truce which began
last week.
The ceasefire in the rebel-held city, whose Red Sea port is vital for
millions at risk of starvation, is part of a peace push seen as the best
chance yet of ending four years of devastating conflict.
A pro-government official told AFP that loyalist members of the committee
overseeing the truce went to the Union Palace Hotel in the east of Hodeida
city to take part in the meeting.
“We are expecting a good outcome,” said the official, who requested
anonymity.
Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert is heading the joint committee,
which includes both government officials and Huthi rebels, and chaired its
first face-to-face meeting.
According to a Yemeni official, government members headed to the sit-down
in UN vehicles.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has described the meeting as “one of the
priorities” of Cammaert’s mission.
A truce in Hodeida and its surroundings went into effect on December 18
but has remained shaky, with the two sides accusing each other of violations.
Government forces — backed by a Saudi-led coalition — and the Iran-
aligned Huthis exchanged gunfire for a few hours on Wednesday morning, an AFP
correspondent reported.
The sound of heavy artillery could be heard to the east of the city.
An official for the Saudi-led coalition said Tuesday that 10 pro-
government troops had been killed since the ceasefire went into force,
accusing the Huthis of 183 violations.
“The fact of the matter is, unfortunately, that the Huthis are clearly
looking to provoke a response from the coalition and no one is holding them
accountable,” he told AFP.
The rebels, in turn, said on the same day that they had recorded at least
31 violations in the past 24 hours by pro-government troops, according to the
Huthi-run Al-Masirah TV.
The war between the Shiite Huthi rebels and troops loyal to President
Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escalated in 2015, when he fled into Saudi exile and
the Saudi-led military coalition intervened.
Since then, the war has killed some 10,000 people, according to the World
Health Organization, although human rights groups say the real death toll
could be five times as high.
The conflict has unleashed a major humanitarian crisis and pushed 14
million Yemenis to the brink of famine.
– ‘Right to offensive’ –
A coalition official warned Tuesday of a renewed offensive on Hodeida if
violations of the ceasefire persist.
“We look forward to supporting Cammaert in his efforts… we genuinely
hope he succeeds, but if not, we reserve the right to recommence an offensive
to liberate the city,” said the official who spoke on condition anonymity.
Cammaert arrived in Hodeida on Sunday from the rebel-held capital Sanaa,
after meeting with government officials in Aden.
Yemen’s warring sides agreed at peace talks in Sweden this month on the
ceasefire to halt a devastating offensive by government forces and the
coalition against Hodeida.
The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution authorising the
deployment of observers to oversee the truce.
The UN monitoring team aims to secure the functioning of Hodeida’s port
and supervise the withdrawal of fighters from the city.
The text approved by the Security Council “insists on the full respect by
all parties of the ceasefire agreed” for Hodeida.
It authorises the United Nations to “establish and deploy, for an initial
period of 30 days from the adoption of this resolution, an advance team to
begin monitoring” the ceasefire, under Cammaert’s leadership.