UNIPATH STAFF
The United Nations has established the Yemeni port of Hudeidah as the focus of its latest efforts to mediate between the warring parties in that country’s civil war.
To implement U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at ensuring a cease-fire, U.N. negotiators, the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels have established a Redeployment Coordination Committee that dispatches monitoring teams to help keep the peace in Hudeidah.
The committee held its sixth meeting in September 2019 aboard a U.N. chartered ship in the Red Sea waters near the city. It led to the establishment of a Joint Operations Center at the United Nation Mission headquarters in Hudeidah staffed by liaisons from the warring parties.
Previous agreements to help end the fighting came to naught, but both parties expressed hope that the September agreement would be more durable. The civil war has raged since 2015, immersing millions of civilians in humanitarian crises.
As part of that deal, Houthi rebels released 290 detainees they had held for years in parts of Yemen they controlled. The release was facilitated by the International Red Cross. This concession raised hopes that both sides would resume peace negotiations stalled months earlier. Sources: United Nations, Al Jazeera