The Houthis' breaches raise the concern of the United Nations about the steadfastness of the truce
English - Tuesday 06 June 2023 الساعة 04:32 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, exclusive:
On Monday, the United Nations Mission in Support of the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) expressed its deep concern about the recent ceasefire violations in southern Hodeidah governorate, which resulted in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.
The brief statement of the United Nations Mission (UNMHA) came after the Houthi militia targeted a house in the Hays Al-Sabt district, causing civilian casualties, which raised the UN mission's concern about the dangers these violations pose to the armistice reached by the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, between the Houthi militia and the parties under the umbrella of the legitimate government.
In its statement, UNMHA called on the parties to fully implement their obligations under the Hodeidah Agreement and to fulfill their obligations to protect civilians under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It also calls on the parties to respect their obligations to protect civilians, including women and children, and civilian facilities.
This is not the first time that the Houthi militia has violated the armistice since April 2022, and before the latest attack that raised the concern of the UN mission, the Houthi militia launched attacks against civilian and military targets in the western coast and the governorates of: Taiz, Al-Dhalea and Marib, in addition to the repeated attacks by drones on targets in a number of northern and southern governorates.
Among the Houthi attacks that violated the truce was its targeting of the oil export port in Hadramout Governorate in October of last year, an attack that led to the cessation of oil exports and the legitimate government's loss of more than one billion dollars.
The Houthis are still threatening to target oil ports if the government resumes oil exports.
Despite the commitment of the government forces and the forces of the parties supporting them against the Houthis to respect the armistice and the efforts of the regional and international community to establish peace in the country, the Houthis take advantage of this commitment by launching repeated attacks on the positions of government forces, and issuing constant threats to resume the war, in addition to mobilizing their forces and fighters to the battle fronts.
In exchange for the Houthis preventing the government from exporting oil under the threat of targeting fields and export facilities, the government, represented by the Presidential Leadership Council, continues to allow commercial ships to enter the port of Hodeidah, which supplies areas under Houthi control with all kinds of imported goods, including fuel. Recently, the Houthi militia imported domestic gas, which was provided by the legitimate government to all Yemeni governorates, in a move described by observers as a Houthi attempt to exacerbate the economic crisis that government officials have been complaining about for nearly three months.
On Sunday, Parliament Speaker Sultan al-Barakani said, in a meeting with UN envoy Hans Grundberg in Riyadh, that it is unfair for the world to allow the Houthis to stop oil exports, while the legitimate government is required to enter oil and goods ships into the port of Hodeidah freely, and the Houthi militia earns hundreds of billions and harsh conditions are imposed on merchants not to go to legal areas.
This statement is almost one of the rare statements made by officials of the legitimate government in protest against the pressure exerted by the regional and international community on the government and the parties represented in the Presidential Leadership Council, in order to continue efforts to establish peace in the country.
Al-Barakani added, "The option of peace is the best option, but the partner who believes in peace does not exist at all," because the Houthi militia "is not serious and moves from one position to another, distracting the world with slogans and raising the humanitarian aspect, as evidenced by the siege of Taiz over these years.
