Yemen's Houthi militias jeopardise Hodeidah ceasefire‏

Yemeni government forces say Houthi rebels have started digging defensive trenches in Hodeidah, threatening recent progress on implementing a UN-brokered ceasefire and troop withdrawal in the port city.

The UN-chaired Redeployment and Co-ordination Committee tasked with implementing the ceasefire set up joint monitoring posts on the eastern and southern outskirts of Hodeidah last month. The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, welcomed the move as “remarkable and tangible progress” that could lead to the full implementation of the ceasefire deal agreed at talks in Sweden last December.

But the rebels soon started fortifying their positions by digging 19 trenches in areas under their control in the city centre, a spokesman for the government’s Joint Forces in Hodeidah told The National.

The National quoted Colonel Wathah Al Dubaish as saying “The new channels were dug a few days after the UN put the local monitors in place to observe any new violations” .

These include trenches around the Hodeidah University Faculty of Engineering, the Al Khameri roundabout and around the Thabet Brothers compound, he said.

“Such escalation poses a serious threat to the progress made by the UN to strengthen the ceasefire,” Col Al Dubaish added.

Complaints to the UN observer mission in Hodeidah and to Mr Griffiths have not had any effect.

“We reported the Houthi escalation to the UN committee but they told us that the chair of the RCC, General Abhijit Guha, is on a visit to Sanaa. We then sent a letter to Martin Griffiths who didn’t respond at all. Meanwhile the rebels continue digging the channels before the eyes of the local monitors,” he said.

“We are waiting for the UN committee to send its monitors to investigate the Houthi violation, otherwise the monitoring posts recently set up by the UN will be cancelled.“

Col Al Dubaish said Yemen would also raise the issue through its mission at the United Nations, the daily added.