HODEIDA: Yemen'sHouthi movement yesterday started withdrawing forces from Saleef port inHodeidah under a UN-sponsored deal that had been stalled for months, a Reuterswitness said, reviving hopes for peace efforts to end the four-year war. Themove, which has yet to be verified by the UN and accepted by the Saudi-ledcoalition, is the first major step in implementing the pact reached last yearby the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthis for a truce andtroop withdrawal in Hodeida, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.
UN teams wereoverseeing the Houthi redeployment in Saleef, used for grain, as other teamsheaded to the second port of Ras Isa, used for oil, to start implementing theHouthi withdrawal from there, according to the witness. A dozen trucks carryingHouthi fighters, armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machineguns, departed from Saleef. Two ships were docked at the port and operationswere running normally, said the witness who was at the facility. "Thecoast guards have taken over in Saleef," he said. "They and UNofficials have started checking equipment at the port."
The UN'sRedeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) has said that the Houthis would makean "initial unilateral redeployment" between May 11 and May 14 fromSaleef, Ras Isa and Yemen's main port of Hodeida. It said the redeploymentwould enable the United Nations to take a leading role in supporting Red SeaPorts Corporation in managing the ports and enhance UN checks on cargoes. Itwould also allow reopening humanitarian corridors.
But a seniorpro-government official accused the Houthi rebels of faking an announcedpullout from three Red Sea ports in the flashpoint province of Hodeidayesterday. "The Houthis are staging a new ploy by handing over the portsof Hodeida, Saleef and Ras Issa to themselves without any monitoring by theUnited Nations and the government side," provincial governor Al-HasanTaher told AFP.
Taher'saccusation came after the Houthi rebels, who have been in control of the portssince 2014, said they had carried out their obligations. "We haveimplemented all obligations of the first phase of redeployment. The UN mustcommit the other side to implement its obligations," Brigadier MohammedAl-Qaderi, the Houthi representative in a joint coordination team, said onTwitter.
Sources close tothe Iran-aligned Houthis told AFP that the ports were handed over to coastguard personnel who were in charge before the rebels took over almost fiveyears ago. There was no independent confirmation of a rebel withdrawal, and aUN observer mission in the city of Hodeida remained cautious in its initialassessment. "The UN has started monitoring this unilateral step," asource told AFP. "The UN hopes soon to be in a position to report to theSecurity Council on actual movements on the ground."
The council isdue to hear a briefing on Hodeida on Wednesday. The Hodeida governor said theunilateral step of the Houthis contradicted the terms of the ceasefire deal andaccused the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, of collaborating with therebels. "Martin Griffiths wants to achieve victory even if the Houthishand over (the ports) to themselves," the government-appointed official said."This is totally rejected by us, and the agreement must be implemented infull, especially with regards to the identity of the troops that will take overfrom the Houthis," Taher said.
Hodeidah becamethe focus of the war last year when the coalition twice tried to seize its portto cut off the main supply line of the Houthis, who they accuse of smugglingIranian weapons, including missiles that have targeted Saudi cities. The groupand Tehran deny the accusations. The peace deal had stalled since January amid deepmistrust among the parties in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands andpushed the poorest Arabian Peninsula nation to the brink of famine. It callsfor coalition forces to leave positions around the outskirts of Hodeida in theinitial redeployment.
UN assessmentnext week
It was not clearif Griffiths had secured agreement between the two sides over the main stickingpoint regarding which local authorities would control the ports and city underUN supervision after both sides withdraw. The coalition had disputed an earlierunilateral withdrawal by the Houthis from Hodeida port in December, saying theyhad handed it over to coast guard members loyal to the group.
A UN source toldReuters yesterday that the RCC would announce its assessment of the Houthiredeployment next week. Under the first phase, the Houthis would pull back fivekm from the three ports over the next four days. Coalition forces, currentlymassed four km from Hodeida port on the edges of the city, would retreat one kmfrom "Kilo 8" and Saleh districts. In the second phase, both sideswould pull troops 18 km outside the city and heavy weapons 30 km away.
The UnitedNations secured the Hodeida deal at peace talks in Sweden, the first in twoyears, to avert a full-scale assault on the port that risked so disruptingsupply lines that it could trigger mass famine. The pact is also atrust-building step to pave the way for wider political negotiations to end theconflict, widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia andIran. Western allies, which supply arms and intelligence to the coalition, havepushed for an end to the war.
The alliance ledby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in Yemen in 2015 afterthe Houthis ousted the internationally recognized government of Abd-RabbuMansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. The Houthis, who saytheir revolution is against corruption, control the biggest urban centers whileHadi's government holds the southern port of Aden and a string of coastaltowns. - Agencies