Cease-fire agreement in Hodeidah is still in force: Griffiths

SANAA, March 30 (YPA) – The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths on Saturday confirmed that “the cease-fire agreement in Hodeidah is still in force.”

“The 50 percent drop in civilian casualties over the past three months is a good sign,” Griffiths told Associated Press, without specifying the areas where the civilian casualties rate fell, but said that he aspired to further.

The UN envoy noted that the two sides hold daily meetings to reach a final agreement on details of the first redeployment of troops in the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa, followed by withdrawing heavy weapons and ground forces from the city as a second phase.

“If the first phase is successful, the next disarmament phase will be much easier,” he said. “It is true that it is going slowly, but we should not be shocked.”

Late last year, Sanaa government’s delegation and “Riyadh’s delegation” signed in Sweden an agreement to redeploy troops in Hodeidah to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid, and another agreement to exchange prisoners, as a first stage of the consultations, in order to enhance confidence between the parties to move to the comprehensive consultations which are supposed to address the political and military solution in Yemen.

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