The United Nations security council will on Friday, vote in favour to uphold a decision to ceasefire accepted by the warring parties in Hodeidah region in Yemen and also to authorize an advance UN team operation in order to monitor the deal.
It took several days to a 15-member council over a drafter text of Britain and the United States has on Thursday, come up with their version. The council is expected to vote on Britain’s draft but Washington is expected to not to vote on favour. The US mission did not responded to the request for comment to the UN.
According to news reports, UN senior diplomat, while speaking on anonymity condition, said, “It is rather unusual to see similar but competing drafts put forward by allies, rather than suggesting amendments to existing drafts. But these are unusual times.”
UN diplomat said, “Our focus must be on getting swift adoption to support U.N. efforts and the agreement between the parties.” The drafted resolution need nine voted to pass and no vetoes by China, Britain, Russia, US or France to pass.
After a week of event of the UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden, the Saudi-backed Yemen government and Iranian-aligned Houthi group agreed to a truce in Hodeidah’s Red Sea and to withdraw its forces. The ceasefire began on Tuesday.
The drafted resolution has allowed UN secretary general Antonio Guterres to deploy an advance team to operate and monitor, facilitate and support the deal between Hodeidah’s warring parties.
It also asked Guterres to submit the proposal by the end of this month on their monitoring operations on the truce and its mutual redeployment of forces, also inspections taken at Hodeidah’s ports, Ras Issa and Salif, and also strengthening of the UN force in Yemen’s Hodeidah region.
According to the drafted resolution, Guterres would be reporting weekly to the security council over their implementation of the deals.
The drafted text condemn “the supply, from whatever source, of weapons and associated materiel in contravention of the arms embargo”. Diplomats said that the US wanted to name country Iran but then objected by Russia. However, Iran repeatedly denied all the accusations that it has supported Yemen’s Houthis with their supply of weapons to them.
The resolution “calls on the government of Yemen and the Houthis to remove bureaucratic impediments to flows of commercial and humanitarian supplies, including fuel, and on the parties to ensure effective and sustained functioning of all of Yemen’s ports”.