Hodeidah settlement stalls over entrenched mistrust

A source familiar with United Nations Special Representative to Yemen Martin Griffiths’ thinking has updated GSN on the painfully slow pace of the Stockholm-negotiated ceasefire in Hodeidah. Implementation arrangements are still being negotiated, under the chairmanship of Danish Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard, who we are told has won respect from both sides for his patience and tact. But the principal obstacle to achieving full implementation remains the Houthis’ fear that if they withdraw from the ports area, and are replaced by what the Stockholm agreement stipulates as being local forces, former members of local militias that the Emiratis have used to conduct much of the fighting in the area will fill the gap.