ADEN: Yemen’s government on Thursday announced it will end its cooperation with a UN human rights mission, accusing investigators of bias after a report on alleged war crimes.
The government came under fire last month after UN experts highlighted deadly air strikes by the regional Saudi-led coalition supporting it in the war with the Iran-linked Houthi rebels.
“The government refuses to extend the mission’s mandate because its findings, outlined in the report, did not meet the standards of professionalism and impartiality or the basic principles of the United Nations,” said a statement carried by the state-run Saba news agency.
It accused the UN group of “turning a blind eye” to the violations of the Shiite Houthi rebels, who the government has been battling since 2014.
On Wednesday, the investigators, appointed by the Human Rights Council a year ago, had requested they continue probing the “extremely alarming” situation in Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition has dismissed as “inaccurate” and “non-neutral” the UN experts’ August 28 report, which accused both government forces and the Houthis of violations against international law.
Yemen’s conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015. It has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with three quarters of the population — or 22 million people — in need of humanitarian aid, according to UN figures.
