BICOM

The UN-negotiated ceasefire in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah is expected to hold, despite being broken soon after it came into force at midnight on Tuesday.

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said he expected the retired Dutch general, Patrick Cammaert, to be deployed to the key port city today under UN authority to oversee the ceasefire and the two-phase troop withdrawal. Griffiths said the monitoring committee chaired by Cammaert would meet for the first time today after the initial breach was followed by quiet.

The breakthrough agreement, brokered last week in Sweden, involves a ceasefire in Hodeidah and a prisoner swap. Once the ceasefire takes effect a “mutual redeployment of forces” will be carried out from the city and ports “to agreed-upon locations outside”. The first phase of withdrawal is to be completed by the end of the year and the second phase – taking troops out of the port area – is to be completed by the middle of January. The withdrawal should allow aid to travel freely on the road from Hodeidah to the capital, Sana’a.

Cammaert is reportedly set to face challenges negotiating troop withdrawals and reaching an agreement from all parties for the makeup of a new civilian security force. He must also ensure that revenues from the port are not being siphoned off to the Houthi militia.

The UK has taken a leading role in diplomatic efforts to alleviate the crisis in Yemen at the UN. Before the talks in Sweden, and under pressure from Saudi Arabia, British diplomats withdrew a resolution that called for all parties to the conflict to take further steps to facilitate the unhindered flow of commercial and humanitarian supplies including food, fuel, medicine and other essential imports and humanitarian personnel into and across the country.

Diplomats believe that if the ceasefire holds, and is extended to the other ports of Salif and Ras Issa, then the chances of the UN Security Council being able to agree the terms of a resolution endorsing the outcome of the Sweden talks, and future humanitarian access, will be higher. Fourteen million people are on the brink of famine and an estimated 85,000 children are believed to have died from malnutrition since the civil war began.