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UN extends implementation timeline of Yemen agreements

January 29, 2019 at 11:55 am

UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths in Sweden, on 13 December 2018 [Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images]

UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, yesterday confirmed that the timeline for the implementation of the UN-brokered deal between Yemen’s warring parties has been extended due to “difficulties on the ground”.

Speaking to Saudi’s Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Griffiths explained that the initial timeline was very ambitious, adding that the situation on the ground is very complex.

Griffiths arrived in Houthi-held Sanaa yesterday, days after visiting the Saudi capital of Riyadh where he met Yemeni officials; including Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Under UN auspices, the parties to the Yemeni conflict agreed to a ceasefire in the province of Hudaydah, to withdraw from the vital port town and to a prisoner exchange. The terms of the agreement, along with the prisoner exchange deal, were initially planned to take place during the first weeks of January, however this did not take place amid accusations from both parties that the terms of the agreement had been violated.

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