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| Yemen not to expel UN rights official | ||
| 2016-01-10 | ||
| New York: Yemen told the United Nations on Friday that it has rescinded its decision to expel the leading UN rights official in the country, diplomats said. The Yemeni foreign ministry announced a day earlier that it had declared George Abu Al Zulof persona non grata, accusing him of lacking impartiality in his reporting on the human rights situation. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged the Saudi-backed government to reverse its decision and allow Zulof to stay, warning that Yemen would be falling short of its obligations by "impeding" UN human rights work.
Earlier on Friday, Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa and warned that the use of these munitions "may amount to a war crime." Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.
He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a center for the blind," said the statement. UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh on Friday for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis. He suggested Geneva as a location for holding peace talks due to | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |