UN Special Envoy For Yemen Welcomes Progress In Stockholm Agreement Implementation

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths welcomed on Tuesday the progress in the implementation of the first phase of forces redeployment by Yemeni conflicting parties in the country's port city of Al Hudaydah, which is stipulated by an agreement reached in Stockholm late last year

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths welcomed on Tuesday the progress in the implementation of the first phase of forces redeployment by Yemeni conflicting parties in the country's port city of Al Hudaydah, which is stipulated by an agreement reached in Stockholm late last year.

"Following constructive discussions with both parties, there is significant progress towards an agreement to implement phase one of the redeployments of the Hudayda agreement," Griffiths said in a statement.

He announced that operational details would soon be presented to the parties in the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) for endorsement.

The redeployment of forces is one of several steps agreed under UN-mediated talks that began in Stockholm last December.

Under the so-called Stockholm Agreement, the Yemeni government and rebel Houthi movement pledged to implement a ceasefire, exchange prisoners and open humanitarian corridors in Al Hudaydah.

Griffiths earlier explained that in the first phase of the agreed redeployment, the warring parties will leave the ports of Saleef and Ras Isa, as well the Al Hudaydah ports and other crucial parts of the city where humanitarian facilities are located.

Since March 2015, Yemen has been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and the Shiite Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since the earliest days of the conflict.