Dubai: Yemen has demanded the United Nations take a tougher stance towards the procrastination of Al Houthi militants in implementing the Sweden Agreement, reached last December.
Yemen’s foreign minister, Khalid Al Yamani, has said the Head of the UN ceasefire monitoring team, General Michael Lollesgaard, and the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, should take a strict position towards the rebels’ stalling tactics in implementing the deal.
“They should act to stop their open deception of the UN and international community,” he said.
His call, comes after repeated statements by the Yemeni government and coalition fighting Al Houthis emphasising the obligation of the UN to speak out against Al Houthi intransigence.
Thursday was the deadline in implementing phase 1 of the agreement.
Under phase one, Al Houthis were required to withdraw five kilometres from Saleef and Ras Isa ports and the Yemeni army would withdraw one kilometre.
The militants were also required to remove all landmines they planted in the area.
Following the implementation of phase one, the parties would then move on to phase two.
However, there has been little action on the part of Al Houthis to carry out phase 1.
Under the Sweden agreement, parties in Yemen agreed to a ceasefire for the cities and ports of Hodeida, Salif and Ras Isa.
They also agreed on a mutual redeployment of forces to agreed upon locations outside the city and the ports.
Under the agreement, the parties cannot bring any military reinforcements into the city or ports and must begin moving military equipment.
Al Yamani said that Al Houthis were soley to blame for the failure of the agreement and the fresh setback.
He said their actions have had unfortunate humanitarian ramifications as the first phase also called for securing a passage to the Red Sea Mills, the largest grain silo in the country—of which hundreds of thousands of Yemenis depend on.
A Saudi-led coalition joined the war in 2015 after an Al Houthi coup unseated Yemen’s legitimate government.
Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi was placed under house arrest but later escaped, setting up temporary government headquarters in the southern city of Aden.
Since then, the coalition was able to win back large swathes of territory from the militants, but main population centers remain under Al Houthi control.
A lightening offensive by Yemeni forces last year was able to liberate much of the Al Houthi-controlled territory along strategic Red Sea, but stopped just short of the Hodeida port, the main conduit for goods and aid.
International pressure was placed on Yemeni forces to pause their assault because of the major humanitarian concerns such a battle would have.
However, the government says Al Houthis are using the port to illegally smuggle in weapons from Iran to sustain their military efforts.
Nonetheless, government forces agreed to a halt their offensive, but reserved their right to resume it if peace talks fail.