UN-sponsored Talks between Yemen Govt & Houthi Rebels over Hodeida

Representatives of Yemen’s legitimate government and Iran-backed Houthi rebels met on Monday aboard a UN ship in the Red Sea to discuss a mechanism to enforce a long-term truce in the key port city of Hodeida, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

The two sides met as members of the “Redeployment Coordination Committee,” a body set up by the UN to oversee the ceasefire.

The talks were mainly focused on shaping a permanent joint committee for a ceasefire in Hodeida, according to the news channel.

Last December, Yemen’s internationally-recognized government and Al Houthi militants signed an agreement on pullout from Hodeida at UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden.

Since the announcement of a UN-brokered ceasefire agreement in December 2018, Houthi militia has been reported to repeatedly breach the truce agreement. As a result, a great number of civilians have fallen victim to snipers, mortar shells, and recently-planted landmines.