The UN Security Council (UNSC) is scheduled to vote on a six-month observer mission tasked with monitoring a ceasefire in Yemen’s Hudaydah and oversee a pullback of rival forces from the lifeline port city.
Diplomats said the 15-member UN body is expected to approve on Wednesday a British-drafted resolution authorizing the deployment of up to 75 unarmed monitors to the city of Hudaydah and its port along with the ports of Saleef and Ras Issa for an initial period of six months.
The draft resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “expeditiously” deploy the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA), led by retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert.
The draft resolution also “requests Member States, particularly neighboring States, to support the United Nations as required for the implementation of UNMHA’s mandate.”
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Yemen’s warring parties, namely Houthi Ansarullah movement and the Saudi-backed former government, agreed the truce in the Houthi-held port in Sweden on December 13.
The UNSC last month authorized an advance monitoring team led by Cammaert and asked Guterres to recommend a larger operation as the group’s mandate expires on January 20.
Yemen’s Houthis say the UN chief monitor of Hudaydah ceasefire has exited the agreed course of truce.
The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces said Tuesday that the Saudi-led military coalition had on more than 437 occasions breached the UN-brokered truce in the strategic port city of Hudaydah over the past 72 hours.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Saudi troops and their mercenaries have lobbed a total of 316 mortar shells at various residential neighborhoods of Hudaydah during the mentioned period.
Last week, Houthis’ chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam boycotted the UN-led ceasefire monitoring team in Hudaydah, accusing the head of the team of pursuing “other agendas.”
Abdulsalam said Cammaert had “exited from the course of the agreement by implementing other agendas.”
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Hudaydah, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the Saudi-led aggression, which began in March 2015.
Abdulla and 16 of his family members fled violence in Hodeidah six months ago. Now they all live together in a small abandoned classroom.
“We survive on rice and bread. I don't have a single riyal [to my name]”. https://t.co/1ZyrZk5lib
— CARE (care.org) (@CARE) January 15, 2019
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched the Hudaydah offensive in June but have been facing strong resistance from Yemeni armed forces — led by the Houthis — as well as the city’s residents.
The Saudi war has killed tens of thousands of Yemeni people and made the country the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
The imposed war initially consisted of an airstrike campaign but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground mercenaries to Yemen.