Yemeni Government Suspends Participation in Hodeidah’s Redeployment Committee

Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)
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Yemeni Government Suspends Participation in Hodeidah’s Redeployment Committee

Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)
Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami met with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh on Wednesday (saba news agency)

The Yemeni government announced that it has suspended its membership in the Hodeidah Redeployment Coordination Committee holding Houthi rebels responsible for the move.

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik has warned that the militias' recent military escalation and recurrent breaches of the UN-sponsored ceasefire in Hodeidah would thwart the Stockholm Agreement.

During a phone conversation he held on Thursday with the head of the government team engaged in the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), Maj. General Mohammed Aidhah, the PM said such violations clearly demonstrate that militia leaders have never seriously sought to achieve peace.

Abdulmalik’s remarks came a day after Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami made clear, during a meeting with US ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh, that the suspension is meant to review the feasibility of the Stockholm Agreement in light of the continued Houthi violations of the deal.

"The government had shown so much patience versus the Houthi maximalist avoidance of the Hodeidah Agreement for one year," the FM said.

Hadhrami called on the UN to assume its responsibility in ensuring the safety of the governmental team involved in implementing the Agreement.

During his phone call with Aidhah, the Yemeni PM inquired about the health of Colonel Mohammed Abdurrab Sharaf Al-Soleihi, a member of the government team that monitors the truce, who was shot by a Houthi sniper while on duty on Wednesday despite having been notified about his movement.

"Shooting Col. Al-Soleihi while on duty is a flagrant breach and serious act that threatens the Stockholm Agreement,” said Abdulmalik.

Under the UN-sponsored deal signed in December 2018 in the Swedish capital, the Iran-backed Houthis are compelled to defuse landmines and to withdraw from Hodeidah’s seaports and open roads from and to the city in exchange for the Yemeni government halting a major military offensive that had reached Hodeidah city.



‘Oil-for-Salaries’ Deal Ends Dispute Between Baghdad and Erbil

Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stressed the need to put an end to attacks on the region, particularly targeting oil fields (Reuters)
Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stressed the need to put an end to attacks on the region, particularly targeting oil fields (Reuters)
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‘Oil-for-Salaries’ Deal Ends Dispute Between Baghdad and Erbil

Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stressed the need to put an end to attacks on the region, particularly targeting oil fields (Reuters)
Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stressed the need to put an end to attacks on the region, particularly targeting oil fields (Reuters)

The Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached a landmark agreement on Thursday that ends a years-long dispute over oil revenues and public sector salaries.

The deal, announced following an emergency cabinet meeting in Baghdad, covers oil production handover, non-oil revenue sharing, and the resumption of salary payments to KRG employees beginning with May 2025.

According to a government statement, the agreement was based on a recommendation by a ministerial committee and aligned with Kurdistan’s regional cabinet decision No. 285, issued on July 16.

KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani confirmed the breakthrough, stating that the federal government had approved a “mutual understanding regarding salaries and the region’s financial entitlements.”

Under the terms of the deal, the KRG will hand over all crude oil production - currently 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) - to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), with the exception of 50,000 bpd reserved for domestic consumption. This marks the first such commitment in more than two years, during which oil exports were suspended amid ongoing disputes and recent drone strikes targeting northern oilfields operated mostly by US firms.

In return, the federal Ministry of Finance will pay $16 per barrel, in cash or in kind, to cover production costs. Revenues from locally consumed oil derivatives will go to the federal treasury after deducting production and transport expenses.

On non-oil revenues, the KRG will transfer an initial 120 billion Iraqi dinars (approx. $92 million) to the federal finance ministry, representing an estimate of Baghdad’s share for May. A joint audit team from both governments will verify and finalize the figures within two weeks.

To resolve long-standing disputes over public salaries, a new joint committee will oversee the localization of KRG employee payrolls, in line with a ruling from the Federal Supreme Court. The committee is expected to complete its work within three months.

As part of the agreement’s first phase, the federal government will begin disbursing May salaries following confirmation from SOMO that the agreed oil volumes have been received.