The newly appointed head of the UN operation monitoring a ceasefire in Yemen's key port of Hodeida, Danish Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, resumed joint committee meetings after arriving and taking over the reins from his predecessor, Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, Yemeni government sources revealed.
While the UN voiced optimism that an implementation roadmap was underway for the truce agreement signed in Sweden back in December, Yemeni government sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that reaching a comprehensive and long-lasting implementation agreement was still elusive in the wake of Houthi intransigence and determination to obstruct any UN plan initiated by Cammaert.
Sources also confirmed that government representatives at the UN Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) are actively cooperating meetings initiated by the new UN chief, Lollesgaard.
The new chief monitor on Tuesday visited Sanaa, before leaving for Hodeidah where he is staying onboard an international ship off the city’s ports. Cammaert had previously chose the ship as a setting to hold joint meetings with representatives of Yemen’s warring parties.
According to the sources, Lollesgaard held a joint meeting immediately after arriving at the ship in the presence of Cammaert.
For its part, the UN published an official statement saying that recent joint meetings were positive.
According to the UN statement, Cammaert, in his farewell address, praised both Yemeni parties for demonstrating goodwill and constructive engagement to overcome distrust and find viable solutions that would ultimately bring peace to the vital ports of Hodeidah and facilitate life-saving humanitarian operations.
Cammaert has tried to bolster the ceasefire in Hodeida agreed to by leaders of Yemen's government and Iran-backed Houthi militias on December 13th and get the two sides to redeploy forces from the port, which handles 70 percent of food and humanitarian aid imported into Yemen.
Lollesgaard, currently Denmark's military representative to NATO, has 30 years of national and international military experience.
The first joint meeting chaired by Lollesgaard yesterday tackled details of implementing phase one of the Hodeidah redeployment plan and the withdrawal from ports in accordance with the Stockholm agreement, a government source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Later on, an official statement confirmed that the UN push to persuade pro-government forces and Houthi militias to abide by the Stockholm agreement is “beginning to pay off”.
“Today, the parties are closer to agreeing on modalities for phase one redeployment than they were six weeks ago,” it added.
Phase one provides for redeployment from the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef, Ras Issa and from parts of the city where there are humanitarian facilities, according to the agreement.
That was scheduled to happen two weeks after the ceasefire went into force on December 18th but that deadline was missed due to Houthi refusal to abide by the agreement’s stipulations.
