Jemen

The top UN official overseeing a cease-fire deal in the strategic Yemeni port city of Hodeida survived a brief attack on his armored convoy on Thursday, underscoring the brittle nature of a month-old pact widely seen as central to ending Yemen’s 4-year-old war.

The Security Council unanimously voted on Wednesday in favour of deploying up to 75 observers to monitor a fragile ceasefire in Yemen's port city of Hudaydah which went into effect late last month; a lifeline for millions of Yemenis on the verge of starvation. Among other things, the newly adopted resolution establishes what will be officially known as the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA).

Houthi rebel and Yemeni government representatives did not meet face-to-face in the port city of Hodeidah over the past week despite a recently-inked peace plan, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. … Their refusal to sit together highlights the difficulty in implementing the UN-brokered deal, reached between the government and rebels on December 13 in Rimbo, Sweden.