Yemen gov’t welcomes UN proposal of Hodeidah, Iran- Backed Houthi rebels reject

SANAA, June 17 (Xinhua) – Yemen’s exiled government on Saturday welcomed a United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) presidential statement about Hodeidah peace plan to keep commercial and humanitarian supplies flowing into the war-torn country, but dominant Houthi rebels apparently rejected it.
On Thursday, the UNSC issued a presidential statement urging warring parties in Yemen to agree on a two-point proposal advanced by the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to keep Hodeidah out of fighting and ensure the flowing of commercial and humanitarian aid.
The proposal stipulates the withdrawal of Houthi fighters from the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and handing it to a third neutral party under the supervision of the UN. In return, the government would resume salary payment to the state employees.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malik al-Mekhlafi welcomed the UNSC proposal.
“The government reiterates its agreement to the UN envoy’s Hodeidah proposals and to the mechanism of handing over resources and salaries out of concern for Yemenis,” he said on his Twitter account.
However, the Houthi group rejected the UNSC proposal, saying it was not neutral.
“The UNSC was serving the policy of some power countries’ interests,” Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency quoted an unnamed spokesman for the group as saying.
“We affirm that we have all rights to defend our country and will respond to any aggressive attack on Hodeidah port,” Houthi spokesman said.
Hodeidah is the only seaport to the territories under control of Houthis, through which commercial imports and humanitarian aids enter.
The Saudi-led coalition has accused Houthis of smuggling weapons from Iran to Yemen through Hodeidah and called the UN to take control over it. The Houthi group denied the accusation.
Tens of thousands of Yemeni state employees have gone largely unpaid for several months after the government last year shifted the central bank from Houthi-held capital Sanaa to the southern port city of Aden.
The Yemeni war pits Iranian-allied dominant Shiite Houthi rebels, backed by forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, against the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by Saudi-led Arab coalition.
The capital Sanaa and most of the northern provinces have been under control of Houthi rebels since September 2014.
The war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, half of them civilians, and displaced over two million others, according to UN humanitarian agencies.