UN monitors arrive in Yemen for Hudaydah ceasefire

By Murad

SANAA, Yemen

The head of a UN mission tasked with monitoring Yemen’s ceasefire in the port city of Al-Hudaydah arrived in Aden on Saturday, according to a local source.

Patrick Cammaert, a retired Dutch general, arrived aboard UN plane from the Jordanian capital Amman, a source at the Aden airport said.

Cammaert will hold talks with government officials in Aden before heading to Sanaa to meet leaders of the Houthi rebel group, the source said.

On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a British-sponsored resolution approving the deployment of a UN team to monitor Al-Hudaydah ceasefire.

Yemen's warring parties agreed last week to withdraw their forces from the Red Sea port city and institute a ceasefire during UN-sponsored talks in Sweden.

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 a year earlier.

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.

Al-Hudaydah is a major lifeline for Yemen's beleaguered civilian population with significant amounts of humanitarian aid flowing through the port city.