[Al Jazeera] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to Americaâ„¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews...
rebel and Yemeni government representatives did not meet face-to-face in the port city of Hodeidah over the past week despite a recently-inked peace plan, United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
front man Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
The UN's Patrick Cammaert has been forced to "shuttle" between the rebel and government sides, who had twice met together under the so-called Redeployment Coordination Committee (RDC) before those direct talks broke down, the UN said.
Their refusal to sit together highlights the difficulty in implementing the UN-brokered deal, reached between the government and rebels on December 13 in Rimbo, Sweden.
Dujarric said that Cammaert's meetings were aimed at finding a "mutually acceptable way forward for the redeployment of forces from the three ports and critical parts of the city associated with humanitarian facilities".
Under the terms of the Rimbo deal, the Houthis were expected to hand over control of the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Isa to local security forces in liaison with Cammaert and envoys from the Saudi-backed government. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
both sides have disagreed over the wording of the agreement.