UN says Houthis pullout from Yemen ports on track
The United Nations says that redeployment of the Yemeni rebels from key Red Sea ports was proceeding as planned after the government accused the Houthi rebels of faking the pullout
Members of the Houthi movement ride in the back of a vehicle during withdrawal from Saleef port in Hudaida province, Yemen May 11, 2019.
The first day of a withdrawal of forces by Yemen's Houthi movement from three of Yemen's Red Sea ports went "in accordance with established plans", the head of a UN mission to monitor the deal said on Sunday
"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," Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, head of the UN's Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), said in a statement.
Military equipment is expected to be removed in the coming days, while de-mining is also planned, the statement said.
Formal verification of the first redeployment will take place at the three ports on Tuesday, according to the UN.
TRT World's Reagan Des Vignes has this report.
Hudaida port serves as a lifeline for millions in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, which has been pushed to the brink of famine by more than four years of devastating war.
The pullback is considered a first step in implementing a hard-won truce agreement for Hudaida struck in Sweden in December between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.
Yemen's information minister dismissed the rebels' announcement, accusing them of "a policy of deception."
"What the Houthi militia did is a repeated theatrical play of handing over control of the port to its own forces (in different uniforms)," Moammer al-Eryani tweeted.
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