The United Nations observation team in Hodeidah would stay on a UN-owned ship, docked off the coast of the port city, during its expected mission in Yemen, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday.
Yemeni parties have only seven days left to implement the Hodeidah agreement as requested by a ministerial meeting of the Yemen quartet held in London on April 26.
The Quartet expects Houthis and the Yemeni government to implement the deal by May 15, ahead of a UN Security Council session on Yemen.
As the deadline approaches, UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths continued to push both parties to implement the first phase of the redeployment plan in Hodeidah and reach a truce in Yemen.
The UN envoy met Houthi leaders in Sanaa last Sunday, before holding talks with members of the legitimate government in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Following talks with Griffiths in the presence of Foreign Minister Khaled Alyemany, Yemeni Vice President Ali Mohsen Saleh said the government has offered several concessions while Houthis failed to honor any peace initiative to demonstrate their good will.
A UN official told Asharq Al-Awsat that Sunday’s meeting between Griffiths and Houthis in Sanaa was “positive.”
“Neither of the two parties had conditions for accepting to implement the first phase of the redeployment plan in the two ports of Ras Isa and Saleef as proposed by the Stockholm Agreement” struck between the legitimate government and the Houthis in December, the source said.
Separately, another UN official told Asharq Al-Awsat that UN observers are in the process of completing the logistics for the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), which needs to be fully deployed and operational in Yemen.
The official said the UNMHA team was still completing visa procedures with authorities operating under Houthi-controlled areas.
The UN had previously called on all Yemeni parties to continue to ensure the security and safety of UNMHA personnel, and to facilitate the unhindered and expeditious movement into and within Yemen of their personnel, equipment, provisions and essential supplies.
