Sanaa: On Monday the United Nations representative for Yemen said the expected timeline for a ceasefire in the flashpoint city of Hodeida and a prisoner swap between warring parties have been pushed back. Martin Griffiths hosted hard-won peace talks between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and rival Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Sweden last month.

The two parties, who have been at war for four years, agreed at the talks to a mass prisoner swap and an ambitious ceasefire pact in Hodeida, the Red Sea city home to the impoverished country's most valuable port. Griffiths, who was in rebel-held Sanaa on his third trip to Yemen this month, said there had been "changes in timelines" for both deals. He told in a report that  "That momentum is still there, even if we have seen the timelines for implementation extended, both in Hodeida and with regard to the prisoner exchange agreement,Yet such changes in timelines are expected, in light of the facts that the timelines were rather ambitious and we are dealing with a complex situation on the ground."

He further added that Griffiths also confirmed reports of plans to replace retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, who heads the monitoring team tasked with overseeing the Hodeida truce."General Cammaert's plan was to stay in Yemen for a rather short period of time to... lay the ground for establishing the Hodeida mission,"

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At the United Nations, diplomats told AFP that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has chosen Cammaert's replacement: former Danish general Michael Lollesgaard. His candidacy has been proposed to the UN Security Council, which has 48 hours to accept or refuse, two sources told AFP on condition of anonymity. Lollesgaard commanded the UN mission to Mali (MINUSMA) from 2015 to 2016, and then became Denmark's military representative to NATO and the European Union in 2017. The Huthis, who control Hodeida, have accused Cammaert of not being up to the task and of pursuing "other agendas." UN diplomats told AFP that his relationship with Griffiths was strained.

Earlier this month, he said that planned talks had been postponed until February. Griffiths said that  "We are all on the same page that we need to see progress in implementing what was agreed in Sweden before convening the next round of consultations."

The Yemen conflict has killed some 10,000 people since a Saudi-led military coalition interfered in support of the beleaguered government in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization. Human rights groups say the real death toll could be five times as high. The war has pushed 14 million Yemenis to the edge of famine in what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

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