Yemen's Hadi rejects plan for Houthis to remain in Hodeidah port...

Yemen's Hadi rejects plan for Houthis to remain in Hodeidah port
UN special envoy Martin Griffiths held talks with Yemeni President Hadi in Aden
Gareth Browne

June 27, 2018
Updated: June 27, 2018 09:40 PM
Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi has rejected an offer that would have placed the Red Sea port of Hodeidah under UN supervision and allowed the Iran-backed Houthi rebels to remain there, according to reports.
Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, met Mr Hadi on Wednesday as he scrambled to avert an all-out assault on city and its port, the country’s second-largest.
In his first trip to the southern city of Aden, Mr Griffiths reportedly presented an offer to the Yemeni leader from the Houthi leadership to hand the port over to UN control. The offer would have allowed the rebel group to retain a physical presence at the port. The UN has not confirmed the offer.
But the Yemeni leader “completely rejected” the premise of an armed Houthi presence remaining in the port, according to Sky News Arabia.
Echoing a demand repeatedly made by the Arab Coalition, the Yemeni leader “insisted on the need for the Houthis to withdraw completely and without conditions from Hodeidah, or face a military solution,” a Yemeni government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A statement released by the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the meeting stressed that “the management and security of the port of Hodeidah cannot be realised without securing the city itself”.
Mr Griffiths said he appreciated Mr Hadi’s “constant efforts towards peace”. He highlighted upcoming meetings regarding the peace process to be held in Muscat and Sanaa.
The Houthis have controlled the western city of Hodeidah, and its port, since 2014, when they drove the Hadi government out of the capital and seized large swathes of northern Yemen. The port is the entry point for some 70 per cent of Yemen’s food.