Jemen

(UN Special Envoy) Martin Griffiths said that after a “long and difficult process” agreeing the details of a UN-backed plan, which the warring parties signed up to in Sweden last December to de-escalate fighting around Hudaydah, as the start of a process to hopefully end the fighting nationwide, “both parties have now accepted the detailed redeployment plan for phase one”.

Germany will send a maximum of 10 soldiers and police officers to join a UN observer mission overseeing a ceasefire in Yemen, the government agreed on Wednesday.

Deutschland wird sich an der Beobachtermission der Vereinten Nationen zur Unterstützung der Hodeidah-Vereinbarung beteiligen. Das Bundeskabinett hat beschlossen, Soldaten der Bundeswehr sowie Polizisten als unbewaffnete Beobachter der Mission in den Jemen zu entsenden. … Das Mandat gilt vorerst für sechs Monate bis Mitte Juli. Deutschland wird zunächst einen Soldaten der Bundeswehr in Zivil und unbewaffnet entsenden. Dieser wird als "Chief Assessment" (Leiter Auswertung) die UNMHA-Mission der Vereinten Nationen unterstützen. Grundsätzlich erlaubt der Beschluss die Entsendung von bis zu fünf Soldatinnen und Soldaten sowie fünf Polizistinnen und Polizisten.

Houthi forces denied the United Nations access to a grain storage site in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Tuesday, sources familiar with the matter said, hindering efforts to increase food aid to millions facing severe hunger. Hodeidah is the entry point for most of Yemen's humanitarian aid and commercial imports.

Yemen's warring parties exchanged heavy weapons fire overnight in Hodeidah, residents and military sources said, as the United Nations scrambled to salvage a ceasefire deal in the Yemeni port city that is a lifeline for millions at risk of starvation. The clashes were the heaviest since the ceasefire went into effect on Dec. 18, residents said, and came as the United Nations announced a deal setting out details of a mutual military withdrawal envisaged by the Stockholm truce accord.

Yemen’s Houthi group said they were building their ballistic capabilities and their forces stand ready to strike Riyadh and Abu Dhabi if implementation of a U.N. peace deal in the port city of Hodeidah is breached.

The bipartisan bill to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen will now move to the House of Representatives, where it's likely to pass. However, President Trump has vowed to veto the resolution.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council urged Yemen's warring parties on Tuesday to implement a peace deal in the port city of Hodeidah, a move they hope will lead to an end of the four-year-old conflict. The Chinese, French, Russian, British and U.S. ambassadors to Yemen said in a statement they were "extremely concerned" that the agreement reached in Stockholm in December had not been implemented.

The United Nations regained access to a grains facility near Yemen's Hodeidah port on Tuesday, potentially allowing an increase in food aid to millions at risk of starvation after years of devastating war, humanitarian officials said.

A peace deal in Yemen's main port city appears to have stalled again despite UN efforts to salvage the pact intended to clear the way for wider negotiations to end the devastating four-year war, sources involved in the discussions said. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres admitted at a pledging conference in Geneva on Tuesday -- which has raised $2.6 billion of the $4 billion being sought for Yemen -- that progress has been slow in implementing a troop withdrawal in Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions facing famine.