This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Yemen’s Houthi movement has begun unilaterally moving its forces out of key ports, the first practical progress under a ceasefire deal agreed last year.

The retreat from areas in and around western Hodeidah was agreed at talks in Sweden in December but stalled over a lack of trust between two sides in the war.

Both were meant to withdraw their fighters, leaving the United Nations to monitor shipments through the ports in Hodeidah. Shipments unloaded there provide a vital humanitarian lifeline to millions of Yemenis who now rely on aid to survive.

The Saudi-backed coalition fighting for the official government of Yemen twice tried to take the port last year, saying the Houthis used it to smuggle weapons and ammunition.

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The Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran, says that if the government gains control it risks being choked off from vital supplies.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and the country has been been pushed to the brink of famine by the war. The deal reached in Sweden in December was the first major breakthrough in peace talks.

The UN said the “initial uniliateral redeployment” from the main Hodeidah port and the ports of Saleef, which is used for grain, and Ras Isa, which is used for oil, would last until Tuesday.

The chair of the redeployment coordination committee, Lt Gen Michael Lollesgaard, noted that the withdrawal was the first practical step on the ground since the conclusion of the Hodeidah agreement, but stressed that it must be followed by “the committed, transparent and sustained actions of the parties to fully deliver on their obligations”.

The head of the Houthi’s supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, said on Twitter that the withdrawal would begin on Saturday. A Reuters witness on the ground confirmed that troops started leaving in the morning.

Houthi said on Saturday that his group had decided to redeploy unilaterally because the government and its international backers had refused to implement the Stockholm agreement. They were expected to leave positions in the outskirts of the city, before both sides pull back further in a second phase.

The Yemeni government did not immediately say if it would take steps to remove its forces from areas near the port, as agreed in Stockholm.

A spokesman for the Yemeni delegation to the RCC said the Houthi move was “the first step of the first stage. We support the implementation of the agreement.”

However, the information minister, Moammar al-Eryani said the Houthi offer would be misleading and unacceptable if it did not allow the UN to monitor and verify shipments through the port, as laid out in the pact.

The UN said it expected to step up checks on cargo and take a leading role supporting the firm that ran the port.