UN Council votes to send observers to Yemen

UNITED NATIONS - A United Nations team arrived in Yemen on Saturday to monitor a fragile ceasefire in the rebel-held city of Hodeidah, the latest push to secure peace in the devastated country.

It comes a day after the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution authorising the deployment of observers to Hodeidah, a lifeline port city which serves as the entry point for the majority of imports to war-torn Yemen.

The team led by Patrick Cammaert, a retired Dutch general, was seen by an AFP journalist landing in Aden where the internationally-recognised government is based.

Cammaert was welcomed on arrival by Saghir bin Aziz, a general who heads the government team in a joint committee -- with Huthi rebels -- which is tasked with organising the withdrawal of troops from Hodeidah.

After meeting with leaders in Aden, Cammaert is due to travel to the rebel-held capital Sanaa and onwards to Hodeidah, a Yemeni official said.

Hodeidah is held by Yemen's Huthi rebels and has been subjected to an offensive by pro-government forces, backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

A halt to fighting in the strategic port city follows intense diplomatic efforts which culminated in peace talks last week in Sweden, where the warring parties agreed to the truce which came into force on Tuesday.

The Security Council resolution which approved the observer mission also endorsed those prior negotiations.

The UN monitoring team could consist of 30 to 40 people, according to diplomats, and aims to secure the functioning of Hodeidah port and supervise the withdrawal of fighters from the city.

'Full respect' for truce

The text approved by the Security Council "insists on the full respect by all parties of the ceasefire agreed" for Hodeidah.

The draft, which was submitted by Britain, had been the subject of tough negotiations among the 15 council members, and was amended several times before the vote.

The resolution authorises the United Nations to "establish and deploy, for an initial period of 30 days from the adoption of this resolution, an advance team to begin monitoring" the ceasefire, under Cammaert's leadership.

The agreement also included a planned prisoner swap involving about 15,000 detainees.

The resolution was backed by rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam, who said late Friday it marked "an important step towards stopping the aggression and lifting the blockade".

He was referring to the Saudi-led military coalition which intervened in 2015 and imposed a blocked on Yemeni waters and airports.

Quoted by the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV, he criticised, however, the resolution for not condemning the "crimes of the aggressors".

The government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi reaffirmed its "commitment (to respect) the agreement" reached in Sweden and endorsed by the UN resolution.

In a statement also released late Friday, the Yemeni government pledged to work "in a positive spirit" with UN envoy Martin Griffiths towards a lasting political agreement to end the war.

Saudi Arabia also welcomed the resolution.

Khalid Manzalawi, the kingdom's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said the resolutions means that the Huthis "will lose their margin of manoeuvre", the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

He also thanked Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's ally the United States "for reaching the appropriate formula for the resolution, which is in the interest of the people of Yemen and the maintenance of international peace and security."

Food insecurity

A week ago, following the talks in Sweden, UN envoy Martin Griffiths asked the Security Council for the quick deployment of observers.

But the negotiations were particularly tough, with Russia at one point threatening to use its veto if a mention of Iran supporting Huthi rebel attacks -- inserted by the United States -- was not removed.

In a compromise, the phrase "further condemning the supply, from Iran and other actors" of the Huthis became "the supply, from whatever source."

But in the end, the entire paragraph was scrapped from the final version.

The war in Yemen between the rebels and troops loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escalated in 2015, when he fled into Saudi exile and the Saudi-led military coalition intervened.

Since then, the conflict has killed about 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, although human rights groups say the real death toll could be five times as high.

On December 8, the UN said that as many as 20 million people in Yemen were "food insecure," calling the situation the "world's worst humanitarian crisis."

Hodeidah city is a vital lifeline for millions at risk of starvation, and the ceasefire between the government forces and the Huthis is seen as the best chance yet of ending four years of devastating conflict.

Louis Charbonneau, the UN director for Human Rights Watch, said the resolution "sends an important message to the suffering people of Yemen that they haven't been forgotten."

Charbonneau also called on the Security Council to consider imposing "targeted sanctions" on those who violated the laws of war in Yemen, including "senior Saudi, Emirati and Huthi officials."