24 December 2018•Update: 24 December 2018
By Mohamed al-Samei
SANAA
A UN mission tasked with monitoring a ceasefire in Yemen’s eastern city of Al-Hudaydah visited the strategic port on Monday, according to a local Yemeni official.
“The UN team visited Al-Hudayday port,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
He said UN monitors also visited the eastern part of the port city close to recent spots of clashes between government forces and rebels.
Led by retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, the UN mission arrived in Yemen on Saturday to monitor a ceasefire deal reached between the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Shia Houthi group during UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden.
On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a British-sponsored resolution approving the deployment of a UN team to monitor Al-Hudaydah ceasefire.
Al-Hudaydah is a major lifeline for Yemen's beleaguered civilian population with significant amounts of humanitarian aid flowing through the port city.
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.
