France's Ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre said Tuesday the situation in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah remains fragile, adding that the international community continues to be concerned about the military operations in the rest of the country, as well as the threat of transfer of ballistic technology.
The French envoy told the 15-member Security Council that sanctions against individuals and entities that obstruct the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement could be enforced
At the same meeting in New York, UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said the redeployment of forces in Hodeidah by the warring parties could start soon, hoping that such step would be key for a political process in the country.
“With the beginning, possibly even today or tomorrow, of the implementation of that part of the Hodeidah agreement we now have the opportunity to move from the promise made in Sweden to hope now for Yemen,” Griffiths said.
The envoy said that under phase one, the Houthis would withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef, and Ras Isa.
The second phase would see the redeployment of forces in Hodeidah and its humanitarian facilities.
For their part, sources from the Yemeni government warned on Tuesday against any Houthi attempt to delude the UN monitoring team that the rebel group had approved to implement the first phase of the deal.
“Houthis plan to redeploy their forces from the frontlines to the city instead of sending them outside the city, as agreed under phase one of the deal. Representatives from the legitimate government rejected such plan and insisted that the Agreement should not be partitioned,” the sources said.
Attempts to implement the first phase of the Stockholm Deal came amid US and British-led western diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement on the security forces and the local authority that would be in charge of managing the city and its three ports.
Brigadier Sadeq Dweid, a government representative in the Redeployment Coordination Committee, wrote on his Twitter account that phases one and two of the Hodeidah agreement are inseparable.
