Yemen warring parties agree Hodeida truce at UN talks

RIMBO: UN chief Antonio Guterres announced Thursday a series of breakthroughs in peace talks with the warring parties in Yemen, including a ceasefire for a vital port.

In a highly symbolic gesture on the seventh and final day of the UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden, Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani and rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shook hands to loud applause — but both later voiced scepticism in separate press conferences.

Saudi Arabia and its Arab coalition partners “strongly support” an agreement reached on Yemen in UN-brokered peace talks Thursday, which includes a ceasefire in the vital port of Hodeida, Riyadh’s US ambassador Khalid bin Salman said.

“The agreement announced today will help bring back security to the region including the security of the Red Sea, a vital water way for international trade,” the envoy, who is the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said on his Twitter account.

If implemented, the deal on the Hodeida port, a key gateway for aid and food imports to a country where 14 million people stand at the brink of famine, would mark a major turning point after four years of devastating war.

The fighting has triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with one child dying every 10 minutes of preventable causes.

International pressure has been mounting to halt the fighting between the Iran-linked Huthis and the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia and its military allies.

US Senate advances vote on ending military support for Saudis in Yemen: The US Senate sent a fresh warning to President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia Wednesday by greenlighting a vote that could end US military support for Riyadh’s war in Yemen.

Anger at the human cost of the war, as well as outrage over the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, have prompted a harder line in Congress about the US military’s role in backing the Saudi-led coalition fighting to bolster the Yemeni government against Huthi rebels.