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New UNSC Resolution on Yemen Should Urge Houthis to Release Prisoners – Envoy

MOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) – Any new UNSC resolution on Yemen should highlight the obligation of the Shia Houthi movement to timely release prisoners and withdraw from Al Hodeidah governorate, Ahmed Salem Al-Wahishi, the Yemeni ambassador to Russia, told Sputnik.
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"Any new UNSC Resolution or project on Yemen should put an emphasis on the Houthis’ obligation to timely release prisoners, detainees, forced disappeared and those under house arrest, as well as on their timely withdrawal from the governorate, the city and ports of Al Hodeidah. It should also condemn the Houthis’ practices, witnessed during the first days after the round in Sweden, of looting and theft of all vital and private facilities in Al Hodeidah and its ports," Al-Wahishi said.

READ MORE: Houthis Accuse Yemeni Govt, Saudi-Led Coalition of Ceasefire Violation — Reports

The ambassador also noted that the talks in Sweden were a success, and if agreements reached there were implemented, the humanitarian situation in Yemen would improve.

"Any new UNSC Resolution or project on Yemen should condemn the Houthis' destructive negotiation behaviour and its implication on the humanitarian situation … Any new UNSC Resolution or project on Yemen should be a technical product specifying the UN mandate of monitoring the Al Hodeidah agreement and avoid having any political content. It should focus on providing support to implementing the outcomes of Sweden round of consultation," Al-Wahishi pointed out.

UN to Deploy Additional Teams in Yemen to Assist Ceasefire
The ambassador stressed that any new round of negotiations on Yemen was meaningless before the implementation of agreements achieved in Sweden.

The mentioned resolution was adopted by the UN Security Council on Friday. The document calls for the deployment of a UN team to help monitor the ceasefire in Yemen’s port city of Al Hodeidah, which was agreed upon by the warring parties during the UN-led consultations in Sweden earlier in December.

READ MORE: Arab Coalition Strikes Yemen's Al Hodeidah — Source

The fighting has recently intensified near the Houthis-controlled Al Hodeidah, through which the movement receive humanitarian and commercial cargoes. The Yemeni government, in turn, claims that the port city is receiving weapons from Iran. Tehran, in turn, denies these accusations, insisting they had never supplied arms to Houthis.

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