DUBAI/ADEN - Representatives from both sides in the Yemen conflict met on a ship on the Red Sea on Sunday in a U.N.-led push to implement a stalled troop withdrawal from Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah as agreed at December peace talks, a U.N. official told Reuters.
The United Nations is overseeing the implementation of a ceasefire and troop withdrawal accord in Hodeidah, the main entry point for most of Yemen’s imports, in the hope it will lead to a political solution to the almost four-year war. The warring parties were meant to withdraw their forces by Jan. 7 as part of efforts to avert a full-scale assault on Hodeidah, but have failed to do so as the Iranian-aligned Houthi group and the Saudi-backed government disagree on who should control the city and ports.
Sunday’s meeting was the third time the U.N.-led Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) convened since it was formed in December, bringing together the Houthis with the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemeni government and U.N. mediators.
The parties met on a U.N. ship because attempts to convene the third meeting in territory held by coalition forces failed because the Houthis were unwilling to cross the frontline, sources have told Reuters.  (Reuters)