Envoy says UN ready to help run Yemen's embattled Hodeidah

SANAA -- The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, arrived on Friday in Yemen's embattled port city of Hodeidah, amid efforts to halt hostilities between warring forces ahead of peace talks, local officials said.

Griffiths was accompanied by the World Food Program chief for Yemen, Stephen Anderson, and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Lise Grande.

The UN officials traveled from the capital Sanaa early morning, escorted by the Houthi rebels who control both the capital and port city.

"I have come here ... to learn first-hand how we can help to keep that international pledge to protect the people of Hudaydah from further devastation," Griffiths said.

"I had the privilege of meeting in Sanaa with the Ansarallah (Houthi) leadership. Among other things, we talked about how the UN could contribute to keeping the peace in Hodeidah," he said.

"We have agreed that the UN should now pursue actively and urgently detailed negotiations for a leading UN role in the port and more broadly ... such a role will preserve the essential humanitarian pipeline that starts here and serves the people of Yemen," Griffiths said.

The officials inspected the harbor, food storages, a hospital and the center of the city.

A day earlier, Griffiths met the rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi in Sanaa and discussed resuming peace talks.

Griffiths arrived in Sanaa on Wednesday to bring the rebels to the table of negotiations.

Hodeidah, the main Red Sea port city which handles 80 percent of Yemen's imports and aid, has witnessed deadly clashes over the past few weeks between the government troops backed by the Saudi-led coalition forces and the Houthi rebels.

The government has been trying to recapture Hodeidah from Houthis who seized it along with much of the country's north in late 2014.

Griffiths urged the UN Security Council on Friday to adopt a humanitarian truce before holding peace talks in Sweden next month.

The clashes in Hodeidah have displaced about 445,000 people since July, according to UN aid agencies.