The UN will put forward a new plan for the pullback of forces from Yemen's al-Hodeidah port city to the government and the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah), AFP reported Tuesday (March 19th).
"Following constructive discussions with both parties, there is significant progress towards an agreement to implement phase one of the redeployments of the al-Hodeidah agreement," UN envoy Martin Griffiths said in a statement.
"Operational details will be presented to the parties in the Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) for endorsement shortly," he added.
The RCC was set up under the Stockholm deal to bring the government and the Houthis to the table to hammer out details of the ceasefire deal.
The UN envoy's statement did not give a date for the start of the pullback, which would mark the first concrete step towards de-escalation in al-Hodeidah.
Griffiths said he "looks forward to the swift endorsement of the plan" and expressed hope that a deal would pave the way to a broader political settlement to end the war.
Meanwhile, a Yemeni staff member of Action Against Hunger was killed by shrapnel on the roof of her home in al-Hodeidah, the aid group said Tuesday.
The woman was on the roof of her house with her sister on Monday when they were both hit by shrapnel. Her sister was wounded and survived.
