Yemen's Houthis begin withdrawal from Hodeidah ports in boost to peace deal
Yemen's Houthi movement on Saturday started withdrawing
forces from Saleef port in Hodeidah under a UN-sponsored deal that had been
stalled for months, a Reuters witness said, reviving hopes for peace efforts to
end the four-year war.
The move, which has yet to be verified by the UN and
accepted by the Saudi-led coalition, is the first major step in implementing
the pact reached last year by the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned
Houthis for a truce and troop withdrawal in Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions
of Yemenis.
UN teams were overseeing the Houthi redeployment in
Saleef, used for grain, as other teams headed to the second port of Ras Isa,
used for oil, to start implementing the Houthi withdrawal from there, according
to the witness.
A dozen trucks carrying Houthi fighters, armed with
rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns, departed from Saleef. Two
ships were docked at the port and operations were running normally, said the
witness who was at the facility.
"The coast guards have taken over in Saleef," he
said. "They and UN officials have started checking equipment at the
port."
The UN's Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) has
said that the Houthis would make an "initial unilateral redeployment"
between May 11 and May 14 from Saleef, Ras Isa and Yemen's main port of
Hodeidah.
It said the redeployment would enable the United Nations to
take a leading role in supporting Red Sea Ports Corporation in managing the
ports and enhance UN checks on cargoes. It would also allow reopening
humanitarian corridors.
There has been no comment so far from the Saudi-led Sunni
Muslim military coalition that has massed forces outside Houthi-held Hodeidah,
which handles the bulk of Yemen's imports and aid supplies.
Hodeidah became the focus of the war last year when the
coalition twice tried to seize its port to cut off the main supply line of the
Houthis, who they accuse of smuggling Iranian weapons, including missiles that
have targeted Saudi cities. The group and Tehran deny the accusations.
The peace deal had stalled since January amid deep mistrust
among the parties in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and pushed
the poorest Arabian Peninsula nation to the brink of famine.
It calls for coalition forces to leave positions around the
outskirts of Hodeidah in the initial redeployment.
UN ASSESSMENT NEXT WEEK
It was not clear if UN special envoy Martin Griffiths had
secured agreement between the two sides over the main sticking point regarding
which local authorities would control the ports and city under UN supervision
after both sides withdraw.
The coalition had disputed an earlier unilateral withdrawal
by the Houthis from Hodeidah port in December, saying they had handed it over
to coast guard members loyal to the group.
A UN source told Reuters on Saturday that the RCC would
announce its assessment of the Houthi redeployment next week.
Under the first phase, the Houthis would pull back five km
(three miles) from the three ports over the next four days. Coalition forces,
currently massed four km from Hodeidah port on the edges of the city, would
retreat one km from “Kilo 8” and Saleh districts.
In the second phase, both sides would pull troops 18 km
outside the city and heavy weapons 30 km away.
The United Nations secured the Hodeidah deal at peace talks
in Sweden, the first in two years, to avert a full-scale assault on the port
that risked so disrupting supply lines that it could trigger mass famine.
The pact is also a trust-building step to pave the way for
wider political negotiations to end the conflict, widely seen in the region as
a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Western allies, which supply arms and intelligence to the
coalition, have pushed for an end to the war.
The alliance led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally
recognized government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa
in late 2014.
The Houthis, who say their revolution is against corruption,
control the biggest urban centres while Hadi's government holds the southern
port of Aden and a string of coastal towns.