Houthi Group denies agreement to hand over control of Hodeidah seaport

SANAA (Debriefer)
2018-06-17 | Since 5 Year

متوفر بالعربية:https://debriefer.net/news-1036.html

 The Houthi Group on Sunday denied reports it has agreed to hand over control of the Hodeidah seaport in western Yemen without a fight.

Member of the Group's political bureau, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, said: "the demand to hand over control of Hodeidah city or its seaport is unrealistic. No country would accept to give part of its territories to invaders. If we do, then we would peacefully give something to the invaders which they have failed to take with military action".

The term of invaders refers to the Saudi-led coalition which has been fighting the Houthi Group in support of the internationally recognized government of Yemen since March 2015.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has not come back with something new but rather continue discussing what we had talked about during his previous visit and that is a comprehensive solution including about the Hodeidah seaport and Sanaa airport, he said.

The German DPA news agency quoted Al-Bukhaiti as saying: "The UN envoy has not asked us to hand over Hodeidah seaport or the city. So the talk is only about placing it under supervision".

Griffiths arrived in Sanaa on Saturday to convince the Houthis to withdraw from Hodeida in order to stop a major military operation which was launched by the government and the coalition last week. 

Al-Bukhaiti said their forces have beaten the enemy forces and cut off their supply routes in the city.

"Their escalation aims to tighten the blockade and deepen the suffering of the Yemeni people," he said.

BBC reported on Sunday that the Houthis has agreed to seriously study a proposal by Griffiths to put the seaport under UN supervision.

However, they have put preconditions for that including that the coalition stops air strikes and the seaport be run by an UN team independently and without pressure from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America, it said, citing a UN source.

Griffiths has put an executive plan which would guarantee a Houthi withdrawal and an end to military operations to save civilians and prevent  a further deterioration of the humanitarian crisis, BBC added.

The seaport is the only lifeline for the majority of the Yemeni people through which 80% of humanitarian aid and commercial imports come to the country.


Follow us on twitter
@DebrieferNet

Follow us on Telegram
https://telegram.me/DebrieferNet