The Saudi-led Arab Coalition hailed the call for the Houthi Movement and its allies to hand over the control of the Hudaydah port to a neutral party by the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
A source close to the multinational military campaign said the request of the UN Diplomat signals the importance of coalition’s previous calls to take over the port in order “to protect the Yemeni people.”
The rebel group is not cooperating fully to the Special envoy’s request as he lamented about their low level of participation to discuss the proposal during a meeting. Ismail thinks that the port would be useful in providing humanitarian aid and needy goods to the peoples of the war torn country.
The port is a strategic asset in the Yemeni war and the Houthis have been reluctant to lose it. The Saudi-led coalition claims that it is a key revenue generator to the resistance of the Houthi Movement over the past couple of years because it is being used to smuggle weapons and seize humanitarian and medical aid.
The source from the coalition speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed the readiness of the Coalition to support the relief efforts to ensure the flow of medical and food aid to the port of Hudaydah for the Yemeni people to access humanitarian relief.
Meanwhile, the country is facing a cholera outbreak and around 600 people have succumbed to it. The hostile situation has made access to health facilities and medication very limited. Those who have access to hospitals are also faced with a daunting task because almost half of the country’s health facilities are not functioning as they should due to the lack of required resources.
The Red Cross and the World Health Organization are preparing to embark on a vaccination campaign to combat the outbreak.
