UN chief announces ceasefire in Yemen port of Hodeida

The United Nations secretary general has announed that the warring parties in the Yemen war have agreed on a ceasefire in the key port of Hodeida.

Antonio Guterres made the announcement at a press conference at the end of a week of peace talks between the Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government in Sweden.

"You have reached an agreement on Hodeida port and city, which will see a mutual redeployment of forces from the port and the city and the establishment of a governorate-wide ceasefire," Guterres said.

"The UN will play a leading role in the port and this will facilitate the humanitarian access and the flow of goods to the civilian population,"

He hailed the deal as "an important step" towards "real progress toward future talks to end the conflict."

The UN chief said that another round of talks is planned for the end of January and that "mutual understanding" had been reached on the besieged city of Taiz.

The Sweden talks mark the first meeting in two years between the northern Houthi rebels and the Hadi government that has been backed since 2015 by the Saudi-led coalition.

The last round of talks, hosted by Kuwait in 2016, collapsed after more than three months of negotiations with no breakthrough.

The Yemen conflict has triggered what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 14 million Yemenis now at the brink of mass starvation.