Cease-fire in Yemen as UN monitor visits port city

HODEIDAH, Yemen - The head of a UN team monitoring the UN-backed cease-fire in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah visited its main port, neighborhoods and some frontlines on Monday.

Patrick Cammaert, a retired Dutch general, leads a joint committee from both Yemeni rival forces, namely the Saudi-backed government and the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels, tasked with overseeing the implementation of the cease-fire in Hodeidah.

Cammaert was accompanied by the Houthi representatives of the cease-fire committee during his visit to the rebel-held docks.

During the visit, he held a news conference, in which he stressed that "both rival forces should respect the cease-fire and must begin to withdraw from the city".

Cammaert also spoke to the residents, fishermen and farmers, and asked about their livelihood situations.

Many shops were open on this morning, as the majority are still closed over fears of possible ceasefire collapse. Also dozens of fishermen were seen fishing on their boats along the city's coast.

After their visit to the docks, Cammaert and his team drove to several neighborhoods. He talked to the residents and inspected their humanitarian needs.

Unlike previous days, the city witnessed calm since early morning, with no sounds of warplanes, artillery shelling, explosions or exchange of gunfire. Many children were seen playing outside, after guns were silenced.

Hodeidah port is the key lifeline and entrance of the majority of food imports and humanitarian aid to the impoverished, war-torn Arab country.

Cammaert arrived in Hodeidah a day earlier, after he visited the government-held southern city of Aden and the rebel-held capital Sanaa, in the north.

On Friday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 2451, a Britain-led resolution to bolster the UN-sponsored Yemeni peace process.

It came as the first confidence-rebuilding measure agreed to by the Houthi rebels and the government in the Stockholm-based peace talks two weeks ago.

According to the truce deal, the withdrawal from the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa and critical parts of the city associated with the humanitarian facilities should be completed within two weeks after the cease-fire enters into force, while the full withdrawal should be completed within a maximum period of 21 days.

However, both rival forces have blamed each other for violations of the cease-fire since it came into force.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi militia since March 2015, in order to reinstate the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Xinhua