After breach of Swedish deal, UN envoy in Yemen to save the Stockholm consultations
Monday 07/January/2019 - 02:49 PM
Martin Griffith
Islam Muhammad
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffith, arrived in Sana'a on
Saturday for his first visit to the capital Sana’a after the end of
consultations held in the Swedish capital Stockholm last month. The visit aims
at holding meetings with the leadership of the Iranian-backed Huthi militias in
an effort to urge them to be committed to the latest agreement.
The visit comes amid the intransigence of militias and their refusal to open
humanitarian corridors in the province of Hodeidah in the west of Yemen, and
trying to circumvent the implementation of the agreement and refuse to hand
over the ports of Hodeidah.
The international envoy is scheduled to meet with the head of the redeployment
committee, Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, to see what has been reached on the
implementation of the Stockholm agreement.
The agreement focused mainly on the situation in the city of Hodeidah, the
strategic port which is the most important aid outlet for the population of
Yemen.
The United Nations envoy is expected to leave Sana’a for the Saudi capital of
Riyadh, where he will meet Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to continue
talks on the situation in Yemen.
The United Nations is seeking to remove the obstacles that the Huthis are
putting in place by implementing the Swedish agreement, in preparation for
negotiations on ending the conflict in Yemen in full and adopting a formula for
the political scene to ensure that the military conflict that has affected the
lives of millions of citizens has not been renewed.
In the past few days, the terrorist militias continued their violations of the
agreement. A spokesman for the Yemeni Legal Support Coalition Turki al-Maliki
announced that 9 permits were issued for ships heading to the Yemeni ports,
including the ports of Hodeidah and al-Salih carrying food and oil products,
adding that there were 12 vessels waiting to enter the port of Hodeidah 15 days
ago and have not been allowed access yet.
In another context, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar al-Iryani said that the
Houthis were preparing aircraft to target the headquarters of the United
Nations representatives in Hodeidah.
According to the website “Mashhad al-Arabi” specialized in the Yemeni issue,
Al-Iryani explained that “the group wants to blame this on the coalition of
support for legitimacy” led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, adding that the record of
criminal militias in this area is full of targeting hospitals, weddings and
public places.
Fifteen members of the al-Houthi militia were killed today in clashes with the
National Army forces in Baqam district north of Saada province, the stronghold
of the militia leader. The leader of the militia in the Shamiya Front,
northwest of the province, Ismail Mohammed Abdul Qadoos al-Wazir was killed
during battles with the soldiers of the national army.
Brigadier General Khalid Maarouf, commander of the storm brigade, said clashes
broke out after Houthis attempted to infiltrate positions north of the center
of the district, but the army forces foiled the attempt. He also pointed out
that the fighting resulted in the deaths of 15 militia members and wounding
others.
