UN Security Council approves up to 75 truce monitors to Yemen’s Hodeidah

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to authorize the deployment of up to 75 observers to Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah for six months to monitor the ceasefire.

The unarmed monitors would be sent to Hodeida and its port along with the ports of Saleef and Ras Issa for an initial period of six months.

The port of Hodeida is the entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s supplies of imported goods and humanitarian aid.

Talks between the Yemeni government and Houthi militias last month in Sweden on ending the devastating war led to an agreement on the observer force.

A first group of about 20 monitors was authorized by the council last month to begin work in Yemen, but their mandate expires on January 20.

The British-drafted resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “expeditiously” deploy the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA), led by retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday accused the militias of failing to comply with the Hodeidah truce agreement.