UN: Houthi Withdrawal From Key Yemen Ports on Track

The U.N. said Sunday that the redeployment of Houthi forces from key ports in Yemen "went in accordance with established plans:.


"All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security," Michael Lollesgaard, the chair of the U.N.'s Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), said in a statement.


"In the following days, activities are expected to focus on removal of military manifestations and demining," the statement added.


The U.N. is slated to verify the first phase of Houthi troop withdrawal, seen as a key step to end the four-year war in Yemen, on Tuesday. The redeployment efforts began Saturday in accordance with an agreement in December reached in Sweden between Yemen's government and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.


The port of Hodeida is the entry point for 70 percent of the humanitarian aid and imports to Yemen, where the four-year civil war has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Some 60,000 people have been killed in the war that has pushed many Yemeni's to the brink of famine. Nearly 3 million people have been displaced and nearly two-thirds of them are in need of aid.