UN to Deploy Additional Teams in Yemen to Assist Ceasefire

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – The United Nations will send an additional group of observers to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Friday.

Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, the chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee "and an advanced team have already been deployed to the region," Dujarric said. "We will be deploying additional personnel in the coming days as we scale up to support and facilitate the implementation of the agreement that was reached in Stockholm."

Dujarric added that the teams would be comprised of a small number of people, some of whom would be redeployed from existing observing commissions. The observers come from a military background, but in Yemen, they will be wearing civilian clothes that identify them as UN personnel, according to the spokesman.

The ceasefire was agreed upon by the warring sides during UN-led consultations in Sweden earlier in December. In a process overseen by a UN-chaired committee, troops from both sides are supposed to withdraw from the entire area. The parties to the Yemeni conflict also agreed to exchange war prisoners and establish humanitarian corridors in Al-Hudaydah.

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Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels for several years. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.