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Yemen's Houthis will allow UN to inspect ships in Hudaydah

June 18, 2019 at 3:08 pm

Hudaydah port in Yemen, 7 December 2017 [GeorgekhouryUN/Twitter]

Yemen’s Houthi movement and the United Nations have agreed on a mechanism to inspect ships docking at Hudaydah following the group’s withdrawal from three Red Sea ports under a UN-sponsored deal, Reuters reported a Houthi official and a UN source saying.

The Houthis’ unilateral pull-out last month from the ports of Saleef, used for grain, Ras Isa oil terminal and Hudaydah, the main entry point for commercial and aid imports, represented the only progress in implementing the deal reached last December.

“We agreed with the UN on a mechanism to inspect ships docking in the ports of Hudaydah and its implementation will start in the coming days,” Houthi transport minister Zakaria Shami was quoted as saying today by the group’s Al-Masirah TV.

A United Nations source confirmed that an agreement has been reached with UN inspection body, the Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM). UNVIM still needs to sign a separate agreement with the Saudi-led military coalition that monitors ships on the high seas heading to Yemen.

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