Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi held talks on Tuesday with United Nations envoy Martin Griffiths on the latest developments in the war-torn country and implementation of the Sweden ceasefire deal.
Implementing the agreement is the first step towards confidence-building without which there is no point to hold a new round of consultations with the Iran-backed Houthi militias, Hadi told the envoy.
He said that the Houthis have total disregard for peace.
“They only speak of peace when they feel cornered and abuse it to buy time to plant mines, dig trenches and claim more Yemeni lives,” he added.
The ceasefire Sweden deal, reached during consultations between the legitimate government and Houthis in December, calls for the militias to withdraw from the coastal city of Hodeidah and its three ports.
Hadi stressed that the Houthi violations in Hodeidah were continuing as the militias were looting humanitarian aid, smuggling Iranian weapons and abusing funds for their war effort.
He therefore, underlined the need for the militias to respect the ceasefire deal to push forward peace efforts.
Griffiths, for his part, said that the UN was exerting efforts to withdraw gunmen from Hodeidah ports, reopen the road to the Red Sea Mills and execute the Sweden deal in full.
He will present a briefing on his efforts before the UN Security Council.
