RIYADH/UNITED NATIONS: Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to start withdrawing forces from the main port of Hodeidah under a UN-sponsored deal, the United Nations said, following weeks of diplomacy to salvage a pact that stalled over control of the Red Sea city.
The Ansar Allah movement and the government agreed in talks in December to withdraw troops by January 7 from Hodeidah — a lifeline for millions facing famine — under a truce accord aimed at averting a full-scale assault on the port and paving the way for negotiations to end the four-year-old war.
“The parties reached an agreement on Phase 1 of the mutual redeployment of forces,” the UN spokesman’s office said in a statement without giving details on what was agreed. Under Phase 1, the Ansar Allah would withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef, used for grains, and Ras Isa, used for oil. This would be met by a retreat of coalition forces from the eastern outskirts of Hodeidah, where battles raged before a ceasefire went into effect on December 18.
The Ansar Allah control Hodeidah, the main entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s commercial and aid imports, while other Yemeni forces backed by the coalition loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi are massed on the outskirts. — Reuters
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