HODEIDAH: Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement on Saturday started withdrawing forces from Saleef port in Hodeidah under a UN-sponsored deal that had been stalled for months, a Reuters witness said, reviving hopes for peace efforts to end the four-year war.
The move, which has yet to be verified by the UN and accepted by the Saudi-led coalition, is the first major step in implementing the pact reached last year by the government and the Ansar Allah for a truce and troop withdrawal in Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.
UN teams were overseeing the Ansar Allah redeployment in Saleef, used for grain, as other teams headed to the second port of Ras Isa, used for oil, to start implementing the Ansar Allah withdrawal from there, according to the witness.
A dozen trucks carrying Ansar Allah fighters, armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns, departed from Saleef. Two ships were docked at the port and operations were running normally, said the witness who was at the facility.
“The coast guards have taken over in Saleef,” he said. “They and UN officials have started checking equipment at the port.”
The UN’s Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) has said that the Ansar Allah would make an “initial unilateral redeployment” between May 11 and May 14 from Saleef, Ras Isa and Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah.
It said the redeployment would enable the United Nations to take a leading role in supporting Red Sea Ports Corporation in managing the ports and enhance UN checks on cargoes. It would also allow reopening humanitarian corridors.
There has been no comment so far from the military coalition that has massed forces outside Ansar Allah-held Hodeidah, which handles the bulk of Yemen’s imports and aid supplies.
Hodeidah became the focus of the war last year when the coalition twice tried to seize its port to cut off the main supply line of the Ansar Allah.
The peace deal had stalled since January amid deep mistrust among the parties in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and pushed the poorest Arabian Peninsula nation to the brink of famine.
It calls for coalition forces to leave positions around the outskirts of Hodeidah in the initial redeployment.
It was not clear if UN special envoy Martin Griffiths had secured agreement between the two sides over the main sticking point regarding which local authorities would control the ports and city under UN supervision after both sides withdraw. — Reuters
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