Yemen’s internationally recognized government on Wednesday renewed its call for transferring the headquarters of the UN mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) to a neutral zone and away from the control of Iran-backed Houthi militias who continue to violate the truce and refuse to engage in peacemaking efforts.
According to official sources, the call for relocating the mission’s base came during a meeting in Riyadh between Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak and Hodeidah Governor Hassan Taher.
They discussed humanitarian conditions in directorates freed from Houthi hold and the status of UNMHA.
“The minister and governor reaffirmed the need for transferring UNMHA to an impartial place and enabling it to execute its tasks according to the priorities listed in UN resolutions,” reported the Saba News Agency.
Bin Mubarak and Taher confirmed that keeping UNMHA locked away in Houthi territory threatens the Stockholm Agreement and that “it is necessary to act on the Yemeni government’s visions to reactivate the UN mission.”
President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi had reaffirmed his government’s keenness to achieve peace and its commitment to all peacemaking efforts, including the Stockholm Agreement.
“We have halted (according to the agreement) the entry of our forces into Hodeidah governorate after they were deployed only a few meters away from the port of Hodeidah,” said the president during a meeting with the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Yemen, Catherine Westley.
“On the other hand, Houthis did not abide by their pledges to end the siege on Taiz and release the prisoners and detainees (all for all) as the first steps towards peace,” he added.
The Houthis continue to violate the UN ceasefire, with military media reporting that they has stepped up their armed escalation on more than one front on the country’s western coast.
