ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A shooting targeted convoy of the United Nations cease-fire monitoring team in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Thursday, causing no casualties, a government official told Xinhua.
The government official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that gunfire targeted the motorcade of retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert, head of the Joint Coordination Committee to monitor the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, in Hodeidah province.
"Vehicles of the UN carrying General Patrick received a barrage of gunshots just minutes after inspecting a partially destroyed area in Hodeidah," the local official said.
The shooting occurred also after a short meeting between Cammaert and government representatives in Hodeidah, he said.
An official Twitter account for United Nations spokesperson reported that "Patrick Cammaert and team are safe in Hodeidah following reported shooting incident. More information to come later."
Earlier in the day, the Saudi-backed government said that the Houthis had started to boycott meetings of the UN-backed Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), which was set up to oversee the cease-fire, including a phased withdrawal of Houthi forces and introduction of a new security presence in Hodeidah.
It said that the Houthi leadership has made claims that Cammaert was overstepping his mandate, including by conducting meetings in Yemeni government-controlled areas. "Such allegations are totally absurd and do harm to peace efforts."
The Yemeni government looks forward to constructively engaging with the new United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), which was established to particularly bolster the cease-fire being steadily breached by the Houthis, the government's statement added.
A fragile cease-fire deal in the lifeline Hodeidah port city was hardly reached between the Yemeni rival parties in the UN-brokered peace negotiations in Stockholm, Sweden, last month.
The United Nations special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths told the Security Council last week that his team will continue to cement the truce in Hodeidah and will move forward to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.
The four-year-long war has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced three million others and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
