Yemen coalition, rebels agree to Hodeidah ceasefire

Rimbo - A political framework will be discussed in a next round of meetings scheduled for January.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that Yemen's warring parties have agreed to a ceasefire in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

Guterres added that the agreement included the deployment of neutral forces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors. A political framework will be discussed in a next round of meetings scheduled for January.

"Encouraging news today from Sweden. Important political progress made including the status of Hodeida. The Coalition & Yemeni forces military pressure enabled this significant breakthrough," tweeted Dr Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

Encouraging news today from Sweden. Important political progress made including the status of Hodeida. The Coalition & Yemeni forces military pressure enabled this significant breakthrough.
- ?. ???? ????? (@AnwarGargash) December 13, 2018

Antonio Guterres thanked the Yemeni delegations for what he called "an important step" and "real progress toward future talks to end the conflict".

Thefour-year civil war, which pits the internationally recognized Yemeni government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, against the Iran-backed rebels known as Houthis, has made Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations, 22 of its 29 million people are in need of aid.

"This is just the beginning," Guterres said, speaking at the closing ceremony for the talks in the Swedish town of Rimbo. He thanked the Yemeni parties "for coming here to discuss a better future for Yemen".

The UN-sponsored talks had low expectations for halting the conflict immediately, but saw some progress with the agreement of a prisoner swap to include some 15,000 people at the start of the talks last week.

Both sides have said they sought to build on goodwill for future talks, although it was unclear how far they have come in agreeing on a draft agreement given to them a day earlier to consider by UN envoy Martin Griffiths.

Griffiths has said he wants to remove Hodeida from the conflict so that aid deliveries can operate freely.

On Wednesday, the UN raised expectations for progress in the talks saying that the UN envoy had given both sides a draft agreement for consideration.

The document consists of a set of proposals, including one for a political framework for a post-war Yemen, the reopening of the airport in the capital, Sanaa, and a proposal for Hodeida, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis dependent on international aid.

• MENA