UN envoy calls for monitoring of Yemen ceasefire

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Editor : Tevfik Sayraç

'Allowing the UN the lead role in the ports is the vital first step,' Martin Griffiths tells UN Security Council

UN envoy calls for monitoring of Yemen ceasefire

The UN's Yemen envoy called on the Security Council Friday to establish a "robust monitoring regime" to ensure a ceasefire at a vital port.

Martin Griffiths told the council that not only is it essential for the mechanism to be set up at Hodaydah "it is also urgently needed."

"At the instruction of the Secretary General relevant departments in New York and elsewhere are already active on the planning for urgent deployment subject to the decisions of this Council," he said.

The warring parties have both agreed it would be welcome, and have asked it be implemented, he said adding that it should be in force "within days." 

"Allowing the UN the lead role in the ports is the vital first step," said Griffiths.

Yemen's Houthi rebels and the internationally-recognized government agreed on the ceasefire on Thursday amid ongoing peace talks to end Yemen's devastating conflict.

The UN-brokered talks had begun in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Dec. 6 in an effort to end the 4-year military conflict in Yemen. 

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of countries against the Houthis since 2015 when Riyadh and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains that began the year prior.

The Saudi-led campaign in Yemen has devastated the country's infrastructure, including its health and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe it as one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times.  

*Betul Yuruk contributed to this report from the United Nations

Source : AA
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