September Net – Asharq Al-Awsat

UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has failed to pressure Houthi militias in Sanaa to allow the head of the UN Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), Lieutenant-General Michael Lollesgaard, in reaching government-controlled areas in Hodeidah, where he should sit down with representatives of the government.

“The UN envoy has failed to convince Houthis to withdraw from Hodeidah and its ports, as he failed to push the militias to lift restrictions on the movements of Lollesgaard,” West coast liberation operations spokesman Waddah al-Dbish told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

He revealed that the ongoing Houthi intransigence compelled Lollesgaard to send a letter to the legitimate government’s representative in the RCC, Saghir bin Aziz, asking him to choose another location for the meeting, either in Aden or in Riyadh next Sunday or Monday.

Militia leaders had prevented Lollesgaard from crossing into government-controlled areas south of Hodeidah.

“Houthis don’t want to remove bombs and explosive devices they planted in routes that the UN General and his team were planning to use to cross from Al Khamseen Street towards government-controlled positions in the south,” al-Dbish said.

Al-Dbish accused Griffiths of writing misleading reports on Hodeidah without mentioning the militias’ lack of seriousness in implementing the Stockholm deal that was struck between the Houthis and the legitimacy in December.