Yemen war probe scrapped under Saudi pressure

A Western-backed resolution calling for a UN investigation into rights abuses committed during the conflict in Yemen was withdrawn due to protests from Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The Dutch-drafted UN rights council resolution, co-sponsored by Germany and six other European states, called for UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein "to dispatch a mission... to monitor and report on the situation of human rights in Yemen".

It called for the probe to focus on "abuse of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law since September 2014."

But the council announced late Wednesday that the Dutch text had been withdrawn and  that the draft set for adoption on Friday is a Saudi proposal in which does not include a call for an inquiry.

"It's truly a missed opportunity," said Philippe Dam of Human Rights Watch. "What explains it? It was Saudi Arabia's total opposition", to the resolution.

Saudi airstrikes targeting Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels began in March, and the kingdom's offensive to defend embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has persisted since then.

In what the UN said may have been the single deadliest episode since the conflict widened in March, a suspected air strike by the Saudi-led Arab coalition killed at least 131 civilians at a wedding near the Red Sea city of Mokha.

The coalition denied involvement.

The decision to scrap the call for a UN-led inquiry was driven "by the preference of the British and the Americans for consensus," said Dam, who was an observer to the negotiations on the Dutch draft.

He added that Britain and the US faced a choice "between justice and the strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia", which remains a major supplier of oil to the West.

Saudi-Iranian tensions over Yemen have continued to intensify, with the coalition saying this week that it had seized a boat 150 nautical miles off the Omani port of Salalah, loaded with weapons destined for Yemeni rebels.

The coalition said the boat was registered to an Iranian as a fishing vessel.

Source: AFP