BICOM

The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, will meet Houthi leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, this week.

Griffiths is expected to request that the Houthi’s withdraw from Hodeidah in accordance with the Stockholm Agreement.

A ceasefire agreement signed in December has been not been properly implemented due to the delayed withdrawal of Houthi forces from the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, which is the entry point for most of the country’s commercial goods and humanitarian aid.

Griffiths has been shuttling between the Houthi rebels, based in Sanaa, and the exiled Yemeni government, based in Riyadh, in an attempt to avert all-out conflict in Hodeidah. His visit to Sanaa was his sixth in two months.

On Monday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea said their militias will not withdraw until a date is specified for the withdrawal of government forces from around the port city. He said: “The first phase of the UN plan sets a date of our withdrawal only, while it didn’t specify any date for the withdrawal of the other side”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced yesterday, at a special conference to address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, that the UN had regained access to a grain facility near the port of Hodeidah. This could potentially allow an increase in food aid to millions at risk of starvation.

$2.6 billion of a targeted $4.2 billion has been pledged so far this year for a UN appeal to provide relief for Yemen, according to Guterres. Twenty-four million people (or 80 per cent of the population) in Yemen are believed to be in need of aid.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both of whom back the Yemeni government in its civil war against the Houthis, were the largest backers, providing $500 million each. The EU pledged €161.5m (£139m), and the US pledged $21 million.

The UK has pledged £200 million to the fund. Prime Minister Theresa May said earlier this week: “The ceasefire must be respected with parties exercising restraint… This is essential so progress can be made at the next round of peace talks and so humanitarian supply lines can be opened up.”