UN appoints Indian Army veteran Abhijit Guha as head of Hodeidah mission

News:United Nations (UN) has appointed India’s Lieutenant General (Retired) Abhijit Guha as the head of UN mission in Hodeidah,Yemen.

Facts:

About UN Mission in support of Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA)

• In January 2019,United Nations(UN) had decided to establish a United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement(UNMHA).
• It is a special mission to oversee governorate-wide ceasefire, mine action operations and redeployment of forces in Yemen.
• Lieutenant General (Retired) Abhijit Guha will lead the UN Mission in support of Hodeidah Agreement(UNMHA).
• Besides,he will also assume the chair of Redeployment Coordination Committee(RCC).
• RCC is responsible for redeploying forces of Yemeni warring parties in accordance with their agreement.

Additional information:

About Hodeidah Agreement:

• In December 2018,the Houthis and the government forces had agreed to withdraw from Hudaydah port to allow in vital humanitarian aid.
• Hudaydah port is the principal lifeline for two-thirds of Yemen’s population.Its closure had a devastating impact on the Yemen.

Yemen Civil war:

• The Yemeni Civil War is an ongoing conflict that began in 2015.It is the tussle between two factions claiming to constitute the Yemeni government.
• One is Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels, loyal to the former President.They are in clashes with forces loyal to the current government.
• Further,Saudi Arabia had launched military operations to restore the Yemeni government which was overthrown by Houthi.The Saudi-led coalition is backed by the U.S.