...an idea whose time has gone...
team tasked with overseeing a truce in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...came under fire but was unharmed in the flashpoint city of Hodeida Thursday, hours after the Security Council approved expanding the mission.
Chief monitor Patrick Cammaert and his team were "safe in Hodeida following reported shooting incident", tweeted the spokesperson of the UN secretary general.
Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, a UN official confirmed that "shots were fired" at Cammaert's convoy and that the retired Dutch general was "safe".
The UN monitors arrived in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida -- the entry point for the bulk of Yemen's imports -- on December 23 to oversee a truce agreed by the warring sides last month at talks outside Sweden's capital Stockholm.
The deal has helped ease fighting for the city between Iran-backed Houthis and government forces supported by a Saudi-led alliance.
The UN says the ceasefire has been generally holding despite some festivities, while the rebels and government have accused ease other of repeated violations.
'NO DIALOGUE'
The shooting incident came one day after the UN Security Council unanimously approved an extended mission of up to 75 unarmed monitors to shore up the truce.
The new monitors will be sent to Hodeida city and port as well as to the ports of Saleef and Ras Issa for an initial period of six months.
The rebels have been particularly divided in their support for the UN-brokered agreement on the ceasefire and deployment of monitors, with some singling out Cammaert for criticism.
Rebel representative Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said the Huthis rejected the expanded UN mission.
"We will not accept dialogue around increasing the number of international monitors until the problem of Patrick Cammaert is resolved," Bukhaiti told AFP.
"Since his appointment, he has sought to see the Stockholm agreement fail."
Yemeni Information Minister Moammer al-Eryani on Thursday accused the Huthis of preventing UN monitors headed by Cammaert from going to a meeting with government officials.
Most of Yemen's supplies of imported goods and humanitarian aid
comes through the port of Hodeida, providing a lifeline to millions on the brink of starvation.The Huthis control most of Hodeida, while government forces are deployed on its southern and eastern outskirts.
The Saudi-led alliance also controls Yemen's maritime borders and has imposed a near-total blockade on the Hodeida port.