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The Hodeida Agreement that Never Was: Design, Implementation, and Implications on Conflict and Peace in Yemen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2021

Ibrahim Galal Fakirah
Ibrahim Galal Fakirah*
Affiliation:
Non-resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute's Gulf Affairs and Yemen Program.
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Extract

On December 13, 2018, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, attended the conclusion of the Stockholm Agreement. The agreement was comprised of three subsidiary arrangements: the Hodeida Agreement; the Prisoner's Deal; and the half-page Taiz Understanding. The Hodeida Agreement, which was backed by UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions 2451 (2018) and 2452 (2019), contained several issues with a three-week timeline, including: (1) an immediate ceasefire; (2) redeployment, not withdrawal, of forces; (3) the formation of a UN-led Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC); (4) removal of fortifications and halt of military reinforcements; (5) demining of Hodeida ports, not the city; (6) a strengthened UN presence; (7) and security and economic measures.

Type
Recent Peace Agreement Negotiations: Successes and Challenges from the Eritrea-Ethiopia, U.S.-Taliban, and Yemen Negotiations
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 114 , 2020 , pp. 271 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.

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Footnotes

This panel was convened at 1:00 p.m., Friday, June 26, 2020, by its moderator Margaux Day of Accountability Counsel, who introduced the panelists: Laurel Miller of Crisis Group; Ibrahim Galal Fakirah of the Middle East Institute; and Ephraim Isaac of the Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton, NJ.

This Article has been exclusively produced for the American Society of International Law Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, building on the inputs of the panel titled “Recent Peace Agreement Negotiations: Successes and Challenges from the Eritrea-Ethiopia, U.S.-Taliban, and Yemen Negotiations.”

References

1 Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Press Release, A Year After the Stockholm Agreement: Where Are We Now? (Dec. 13, 2019), at https://osesgy.unmissions.org/year-after-stockholm-agreement-where-are-we-now.

2 Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Agreement on the City of Hodeidah and Ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Isa (Dec. 2018), available at osesgy.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/hodeidah_agreement_0.pdf; Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Press Release, Stockholm Agreement Gives Hope of Peaceful Solution in Yemen (Dec. 14, 2018), at https://www.government.se/articles/2018/12/stockholm-agreement-gives-hope-of-peaceful-solution-in-yemen.

3 SC Res. 2452 (Jan. 16, 2019), available at https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2452.pdf.

4 Haydee Dijkstal, Yemen and the Stockholm Agreement: Background, Context, and the Significance of the Agreement, 23 ASIL Insights (May 31, 2019).

5 Stephen John Stedman, Implementing Peace Agreements in Civil Wars: Lessons and Recommendations for Policymakers (2001).

6 Stephanie Nebehay, Yemen Peace Talks Collapse in Geneva After Houthi No-Show, Reuters (Sept. 9, 2018), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un/yemen-peace-talks-collapse-in-geneva-after-houthi-no-show-idUSKCN1LO08Z.

7 Crisis Group, Saving the Stockholm Agreement and Averting a Regional Conflagration in Yemen 2 (July 18, 2019), available at https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/203-saving-the-stockholm-agreement%20(1).pdf.

8 Id.

9 Ibrahim Jalal, Yemen's Peace Process: The Hodeida Agreement that Never Was?, Middle East Inst. (Sept. 16, 2019), at https://www.mei.edu/publications/yemens-peace-process-hodeida-agreement-never-was.

10 SC Res. 2201 (Feb. 15, 2015), available at https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2201.pdf; SC Res. 2216 (Apr. 14, 2015), available at https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2216.pdf.

11 UN Says Operations at Yemen's Lifeline Hodeidah Port Cut in Half, Al Jazeera (Nov. 27, 2018), at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/operations-yemen-lifeline-hodeidah-port-cut-181127164133656.html.

12 Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Press Release, Briefing to the Security Council UN Special Envoy for Yemen – Martin Griffiths, (July 18, 2019), available at https://osesgy.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/secco_-_18_july_-_as_delivered_final__0.pdf.

13 Peter Salisbury, What Does the Stockholm Agreement Mean for Yemen?, Wash. Post (Dec. 21, 2018), at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/21/what-does-the-stockholm-agreement-mean-for-yemen.

14 Asma Al-Ghabri, Yemen's Houthis Accused of Violating Stockholm Agreement, Asharq Al-Awsat (Dec. 16, 2019), at https://english.aawsat.com//home/article/2038231/yemen%e2%80%99s-houthis-accused-violating-stockholm-agreement.

15 UN Creates Joint Observation Posts in Yemen's Key Port City, Assoc. Press (Oct. 23, 2019), at https://apnews.com/6a7046a72bc24602aee234ebab560980.

16 Security Council Report, April 2020 Monthly Forecast – Middle East: Yemen, (Mar. 31, 2020), at https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2020-04/yemen-17.php.

17 United Nations Secretary-General Press Release, Note to Correspondents on the Situation in Yemen (Dec. 29, 2019), at https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/note-correspondents/2018-12-29/note-correspondents-the-situation-yemen.

18 UN Monitoring Team in Yemen Verifies Pullout of Armed Forces from Crucial Port Zones, UN News (May 14, 2019), at https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/05/1038461; Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Press Release, Briefing to the United Nations Security Council UN Special Envoy for Yemen – Martin Griffiths (May 14, 2020), at https://osesgy.unmissions.org/briefing-united-nations-security-council-un-special-envoy-yemen-%E2%80%93-mr-martin-griffiths-1.

19 Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Press Release, Yemeni Parties Meet in Amman on Economic Provisions of the Hudayda Agreement (May 13, 2019), at https://osesgy.unmissions.org/yemeni-parties-meet-amman-economic-provisions-hudayda-agreement.

20 Yemeni Gov't Says Houthis Looted Yr35-Billion Worth Oil Revenues, Debriefer (May 19, 2019), at https://debriefer.net/en/news-17270.html.

21 Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Press Release, supra note 18.

22 Fatima Abo Alasrar, The Houthis Are Consolidating Power, Middle East Inst. (Jan. 30, 2020), at https://www.mei.edu/publications/houthis-are-consolidating-power.

23 Ahmed Nagi, Preparing for a Failed War, Diwan (Nov. 7, 2019), at https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/80282.

24 Id.; Maysaa Shuja Al-deen, A New Failure in the Making?, Diwan (Aug. 18, 2020), at https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/82507.