The head of the UN mission in Yemen launched talks between the government and the Houthis aboard a boat in the Red Sea on Sunday aimed at shoring up a cease-fire, a government official said. Retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert chaired the meeting aboard a UN vessel docked off the coast of the flashpoint city of Hodeidah after the Houthis refused to hold talks in government-held areas, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. It is the third meeting of a joint committee on implementing the deal, which has been hailed as a major step toward ending Yemen’s devastating four-year war. The official said the meeting would address the implementation of an agreement reached in Sweden in December that calls for a cease-fire in Hodeidah, a pullback of forces from the port city and the opening of humanitarian corridors. Up to 75 observers from the UN mission are to be deployed in Hodeidah and surrounding ports, but so far only about 20 monitors are on the ground monitoring the ceasefire, according to UN officials.