The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to authorise the deployment of monitors to observe the implementation of a ceasefire in Yemen's key port of Hodeida and the withdrawal of rival forces from that area.
The limited ceasefire and pullout, if implemented, could offer a potential breakthrough in the four-year civil war that has brought civilians in the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of starvation.
The UN envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, had urged rapid deployment of UN monitors as "an essential part of the confidence" needed to help implement the December 13th ceasefire agreement between Yemen's government and Houthi Shiite rebels reached in Stockholm, Sweden.
Britain's UN ambassador Karen Pierce praised the council's unanimous support "on this very important issue that affects so many millions of citizens in Yemen today". – AP