UN envoy to Yemen proposes plan on how to run disputed port

CAIRO – A U.N. envoy has proposed a plan on giving the world organization a mandate to run a key Yemen port now under control of the country’s Shiite rebels.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Monday that the Hodeida port should be run by a third, neutral party, under U.N. supervision.

He spoke after Arab League meetings in Cairo where he presented a “Hodeida Plan” — a possible blueprint for a wider solution for Yemen’s conflict.

A Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally-recognized government has long planned to seize Hodeida from Houthi rebels who control much of northern Yemen. But the plan was put on hold amid fears it would impede humanitarian aid deliveries.

In Yemen’s southern city of Aden, banks closed for three days following an armed robbery at one bank.