Erik Ohlsson: the Fighting in Hodeidah shows the fragility of the peace agreement

When the UN-led consultations between the regeringssidan and huthierna ended on Johannesbergs castle, north of Stockholm, on Thursday spread a sense of hope.

The warring parties, who solemnly shook hands with each other had agreed on the actual crucial issue – to cease fighting if the important city of Hodeidah, införselhamn for the bulk of international humanitarian aid to the suffering and the hungry in Yemen.

Already in the aftermath of the Johannesbergsmötet, at an impromptu press conference, called regeringssidans foreign minister Khalid al-Yamani, the agreement on the Hodeidah for ”hypothetical”.

And Mohammed Abdul Salam, the leader of the huthiernas delegation in UN talks, is barely land at home in Yemen until he in an interview with iranian Press TV, stating that ”it never reached any agreement on the Hodeidah (in Sweden), the talks concerned only the exchange of ideas”.

Even if the UN special envoy Martin Griffiths talked about the most in-depth and detailed discussions that preceded the agreement on Hodeidah, is the agreement itself is published rather vague and imprecise – 14 brief points on the two sparsely-written A4 pages.

Already on the first point is the agreement, which met on Thursday in last week, out-of-date. It talks about ”an immediate ceasefire”. Now talking to united nations sources, instead of a truce, which begins the night between Monday and Tuesday.

of good will and rapid efforts both of the warring parties and of the outside world. A united nations resolution to hammer through in the security council to provide a UN mandate to monitor the so far imaginary ceasefire in Hodeidah.

A cross-political committee should be formed, where both the warring parties coexist to be able to control the civilians to safety in the halvmiljonstaden Hodeidah. The parties shall agree on where the customs duties in the port should be passed through – to the huthikontrollerade the central bank of Yemen, or the national bank of regeringssidan in Aden?

These and many other crucial details must be resolved before the Yemeni starving and krigssargade population can be sure that food and medicines can be unloaded in a safe manner in Hodeidah. So far the UN agreement from Johannesbergs castle just words on paper, unfortunately.