Yemeni Minister Says Houthi Withdrawal Offer From 3 Ports Inaccurate, Misleading

The release stressed the Houthi redeployment of troops should establish the United Nations with the responsibility to support the Red Sea Ports Corporation in managing the ports.

Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar bin Matthar Iryani said later on Firday that the Houthi offer for redeployment from the ports of Al-Hudaydah, Salif and Ras-Issa was inaccurate and misleading. Al-Eryani stressed that any unilateral withdraw that does not allow for joint monitoring and verification is unacceptable.

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"The decision of the rebel Houthis about the redeployment from the ports of Al Hudaydah, Salif and Ras-Issa beginning on Saturday is inaccurate and misleading and is a play of transferring Al Hudaydah port by the rebels to their militants. Any unilateral redeployment of forces which does not allow for the joint monitoring and control over the provisions of the Stockholm Agreement is an unacceptable equivocation and a trick", the minister wrote on Twitter.

Iryani added that the Yemeni authorities welcomed any moves on the implementation of the Stockholm deal in the area of forces redeployment and warned the Houthis against confusing the international community and the UN Security Council.

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The redeployment of forces is one of several steps agreed under UN-mediated talks that began in Stokholm last December. Under the so-called Stockholm Agreement, the Yemeni government and rebel Houthi movement pledged to implement a ceasefire, exchange prisoners and open humanitarian corridors in Al Hudaydah.

In mid-April, Martin Griffiths, the UN envoy for Yemen, said that the government and Houthis had reached consensus on a plan for the initial redeployment of forces from the key port of Al Hudaydah.

Yemen has since March 2015 been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and the Shiite Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since the earliest days of the conflict.

The intense fighting in Yemen resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises, with millions of people in the country suffering from hunger and lack of health care. The military operations by the Saudi-led coalition, supported by the United States and its allies, have produced mass civilian casualties and worsened the humanitarian crisis.

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