Britain’s foreign secretary has begun a three-day visit to the Middle East in an effort to salvage Yemen’s faltering ceasefire, telling Houthi rebels they must start withdrawing their forces from the port of Hodeidah in line with a UN peace plan.

Jeremy Hunt is also under political pressure at home to take a tougher line on his trip with Saudi Arabia over the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Hunt met the Houthi movement’s chief negotiator, Mohamed Abdul-Salam, in Oman, telling him the withdrawal of troops from Hodeidah needed to happen soon to maintain confidence in the UN cessation of hostilities agreed in Sweden in December. The Hodeidah agreement will allow the opening of vital humanitarian channels.

The UK is concerned that perceived Houthi delaying tactics may lead Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to return to a military solution to the four-year Yemen civil war.

Saudi Arabia has been backing a UN-recognised Yemen government in its efforts to recapture the country, including the capital, Sana’a.

An outline agreement on the redeployment of Houthi and government forces was agreed at UN talks in Rimbo near Stockholm, but repeated rows over the sequencing of the withdrawals has delayed progress.

Fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters has continued outside the ceasefire areas.

The Stockholm agreement provided for the troops’ mutual withdrawal in two phases, starting from the ports of Ras Isa, Saleef and Hodeidah’s main port, and concluding with full withdrawal from inside and around Hodeidah city under the supervision of the head of the UN observer mission in the country, Gen Michael Lollesgaard.

The deadline for implementing the first phase , already postponed once, passed on Thursday without Houthi militia withdrawing from either Saleef or Ras Isa. The dispute is tied to disagreements over the nature of the local force that would police Hodeidah city after the withdrawals.

The Yemeni foreign minister, Khaled al-Yamani, called on Lollesgaard and the UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, to denounce what he described as “the rebels’ stalling and intransigence, and … their open deception of the UN and the international community”.

The UN is determined to keep its lines open to both sides and has not attributed blame for the delays. The Houthi movement has listed as many as 600 breaches of the ceasefire by the Saudi-led coalition forces supporting the government.

AFP.