United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (Unmha)

Following the Stockholm Agreement concluded in Sweden on 13 December 2018 between the Government of Yemen and the Houthis under the auspices of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, the Security Council, in its resolution 2451 (2018), approved the establishment and deployment of a preparatory team for an initial period of 30 days to begin monitoring and immediate implementation of the ceasefire. and the relocation of support the community`s armed forces. City of Hodeidah and the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Isa. Authorized personnel: Up to 75 observers, as well as additional staff with a range of technical, administrative/support and security experts On Monday (15 July), the Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Support of the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) for six months. An agreement on the renewal of the mandate seemed simple. On 5 July, the United Kingdom, the founder of Yemen, sent council members a draft text containing only a few amendments, mainly technical, to resolution 2452 establishing the mission. As no comments were submitted, the draft resolution was suspended until the morning of 10 July, when it was adopted. The draft resolution is now in blue. As the full name of the mission shows, UNMHA was established to support last December`s Hodeidah agreement for a ceasefire in Hodeidah governorate and the deployment of Houthi rebels and Yemeni government forces from the port city of Hodeidah and the small neighboring ports of Saleef and Ras Issa. The agreement was part of the broader Stockholm Agreement, which also included a prisoner exchange mechanism and a memorandum of understanding on the city of Taiz, none of which made significant progress.

The Hodeidah agreement averted a major battle for the city and Houthi-held ports, which could have cut off access to what has traditionally been Yemen`s main access point for imports, including food and fuel, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Resolution 2586, which received the unanimous support of the 15 members of the Council, decides that UNMHA will continue to facilitate and coordinate United Nations support to help the parties fully implement the Hodeidah Agreement, as set out in the December 2018 Stockholm Agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels. Last month, in a letter to Council members, the Secretary-General presented a review of UNMHA. The review documents the difficulties encountered in setting up the mission, such as the operational environment in Hodeidah and the slow approval of visas for mission personnel and the release of equipment by the Houthi authorities, so that UNMHA “has just maintained its initial operational capacity to fulfill its mandate”. In line with the Secretary-General`s proposal of 31 December 2018 to establish the mission, MONEM is expected to include up to 75 observers and other support staff. The draft resolution calls upon the Secretary-General to implement the mission in its entirety and expeditiously, including the word “full” in the text, which appears to be an implicit indication of delays in the implementation of UNMHA. The review showed that the Mission`s mandate remains achievable and adequate. The composition and operational aspects of UNMHA were also assessed as remaining valid, but this requires a great deal of flexibility in its application.

In accordance with a recommendation of the review, the draft resolution requests that a further review of UNMHA be conducted within three months. The aim is to ensure that UNMHA remains properly configured and mandated and to enable the Council to make changes to its mandate as the situation evolves. By the same resolution, the Security Council requested the Secretary-General to submit, by 31 December 2018, proposals on how the United Nations will fully support the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, including substantive monitoring of the ceasefire and the deployment of troops. It has also mandated the United Nations to chair the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), which was established to oversee the ceasefire and the deployment of forces. .