This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-ambassador-no-un-resolution-needed-for-yemen-crisis/2016/03/04/2643ce1e-e249-11e5-8c00-8aa03741dced_story.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Saudi ambassador: No UN resolution needed for Yemen crisis Saudi ambassador: No UN resolution needed for Yemen crisis
(35 minutes later)
UNITED NATIONS — Saudi Arabia’s U.N. ambassador says he is concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen but doesn’t see the need for a Security Council resolution on it. UNITED NATIONS — Saudi Arabia’s U.N. ambassador said Friday he is concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen but doesn’t see the need for a Security Council resolution addressing it.
A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting rebels in the Arab world’s poorest country for almost a year. U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien has accused all parties in Yemen’s conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition and the rebels it has been fighting for nearly a year, of attacking hospitals and schools. Security Council members have begun discussing a proposed resolution on the humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country.
Council members are discussing a possible resolution addressing the humanitarian crisis. U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien has accused all parties in Yemen’s conflict of attacking civilian facilities, including hospitals and schools. But Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had told his office that it doesn’t believe the council’s intervention is needed.
But Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said Friday that the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has told his office that it doesn’t believe there is a need for the council’s intervention. “There are reports here and there about what the Security Council is up to,” Al-Mouallimi said. “We continue to believe that a political solution is the only way to resolve the Yemeni crisis.”
OCHA deputy spokesperson Jens Laerke says the office can’t comment on the ambassador’s statement. OCHA deputy spokesman Jens Laerke said the office couldn’t comment on the ambassador’s statement. “OCHA cannot comment on what a diplomat may say he has heard,” he said.
Yemen’s conflict pits the government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis allied with a former president. The Houthis took over the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014, and the U.S.-backed coalition began airstrikes against them in March 2015.
The absence of a national government in many parts of the country has allowed for the expansion of groups like the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. Amid the chaos, the vast majority of Yemenis are reported to be short of basic supplies like food and fuel.
Angola’s U.N. Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, the current Security Council president, said Thursday that members are discussing a new resolution on the humanitarian situation “because the situation is evolving toward a very drastic one ... before our eyes.”
Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Geneva on Friday that the number of civilians killed in Yemen doubled between January and February. At least 168 civilians were killed and 193 injured last month, around two-thirds of them by coalition airstrikes, he said.
O’Brien has told the council that more than 2,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured since the start of the conflict, including at least 90 children killed so far this year.
On Friday, gunmen in southern Yemen stormed a retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns, officials and witnesses said.
___
Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.