On
Yemen, ICP
Asked UK
Rycroft
Of 29 Killed
in Sa'ada by
Saudi, Which
Now
Says
Legitimate
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Photos
UNITED NATIONS,
November 4 – When the UN
Security Council held its last
Yemen meeting on October 10,
Inner City Press asked UK
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft if
the Saudi-led Coalition now
being on the UN's Children and
Armed Conflict "blacklist" would
change UK arms sales to Saudi
Arabia. Video here.
It seems not. And Yemen is not
listed on the Council's agenda
for November, although Inner
City Press on November 1 asked
new Council president Italy
about it, here.
At noon on November 1, Inner
City Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about 29 more
deaths by Saudi airstrike, this
time in Sahar in Sa'ada, UN
transcript here,
and below. On November 2 Inner
City Press asked UK Rycroft, as
Security Council penholer on
Yemen, about it, and he spoke of
the Saudis doing an
investigation. Well, now the Saudi-led
coalition has said that they
consider it a legitimate
military target, that they
targeted a gathering point for
some armed Houthis. So it's
legitimate to bomb a motel or hotel
with civilians? Does the Saudi
logic apply to airports? From
the November 2 UK transcript:
Inner City Press: In Yemen, 29
people were killed. Jamie
McGoldrick said it’s a terrible
thing. It sounds like this month
there is only going to be a
humanitarian briefing in the
Security Council. What’s the
plan of the Council to address
what seems to be continued death
from the air? Amb Rycroft: I
think the Council continues to
be extremely concerned about the
situation in Yemen, both the
humanitarian, which, as you
imply, is bad and getting worse
with the absence of food and
medicines getting into the
country, and now the cholera
outbreak, and the political
track as well, which is at a
dead end. There is no meaningful
political process going on, and
we call on the parties to get
back into talks with the UN
Special Envoy that will
ultimately lead to a power
sharing agreements and a more
stable, prosperous Yemen. Inner
City Press: Does the UK
understand that Saudis were
going to investigate this
strike? Amb Rycroft: "So what
normally happens in an incident
like this – and we’ll check on
the specifics of this one – but
what normally happens is the
Saudis do an investigation and
we would support them doing that
if that’s what needed at this
time." From the UN's Nov 1
transcript: Inner City Press: I
want to ask you about
Yemen. There are these
reports of a Saudi-led airstrike
killing over 20 — some people
say 29 or 26 — in Sahar in
Sa’ada. And I wanted to
know, one, if the UN is aware of
it and, two, if there's any
comments from the
Secretary-General, this being
the day after his report was
presented, which said that the…
Saudi Arabia's taking all steps
or some steps to prevent… many
of the people in this hotel that
was hit were children. So,
what's his comment?
Spokesman: We've seen…
we've seen the reports that an
airstrike by the Saudi-led
Coalition took place in Sa’ada,
as you mentioned, including the
report of 26 deaths and many
more injured. As a general
comment, we remain deeply
concerned that civilians,
including children, continue to
bear the brunt of the
conflict. We underscore
that all parties to the conflict
must abide by their obligations
under international humanitarian
law — including the fundamental
rule of proportionality,
distinction, and precaution — to
protect civilians and civilian
infrastructure against
attack. The
Secretary-General, I think, was
very clear as was… was Ms. Gamba
in her preparation… in her
statement yesterday. And I
think the report that the
Secretary-General issued also
makes his position clear.
What we're continuing to see in
Yemen, very unfortunately, is
the continuing suffering of the
civilian population, of men,
women, and children, whether
it's from attacks or whether
it's from a denial of access to
humanitarian aid. And this
only redoubles our… our efforts
to finding a political solution.
Inner City Press: it's said that
most of these people that were
killed were in a either hotel or
motel or kind of internally
displaced people, and it's right
next to a public market.
So, it becomes… in terms of the
steps being taken, it's hard to
imagine a legitimate military
target that's next to a public
market and a
hotel…Spokesman: We're not
arguing. I'm not here to
defend… whether it's… I'm not
here to speak on behalf of the
Coalition, the Houthis or anyone
else. What we're
witnessing here is a continued
killing of civilians." On
October 13, Inner City Press
asked UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: on the Yemen,
there have been quotes from I
guess it's called the Yemeni
Government. The Yemeni
Government in exile has said
that they don't have any
information about the initiative
that Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
said that he has.
Meanwhile, the rebels said that
he's biased. So I guess
I'm just wondering, since it's a
recent article, what has he done
since he came? He came and said,
I'm presenting to both sides,
and now, both sides… one side
that he's presumably in contact
with says they have nothing from
him, and the other side won't
talk to him. So…
Spokesman: I think… he is
in touch with the parties, and I
don't think it will be… those
contacts will not be done
through the media." Where? On
October 10, when the UN's
largely failing envoy on Yemen
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed came to
the stakeout and claimed that he
is about to meet the Houthis
soon, UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan
Haq handpicked in advance who
could ask questions. Inner City
Press waited to the end, out of
respect, then asked quite
audibly on what basis the envoy
claimed the Houthis would meet
with them. He did not answer.
Video
here. Nor did French
Ambassador Francois Delattre,
president of the Security
Council for October - he said he
wouldn't comment on what IOCA
said, even after a long closed
door consultation. This is the
UN. When a Yemen meeting during
the UN General Assembly week was
held at 8 am on September 22,
new UN Relief Chief Mark Lowcock
introduced as speakers the
foreign ministers of Sweden and
the Netherlands, representatives
of Japan and the UAE, and the
UN's envoy Ismael Ould Cheikh
Ahmed. While billed as a
humanitarian meeting, the UAE
spoke without irony about
outside interference. (Yemen's
representative spoke in Arabic;
Inner City Press streamed
Periscope video).
On September 28, Inner City
Press asked Lowcock whether he
thought the meeting had a
sufficiently humanitarian
character. He pointed to his
concluding statements, which
Inner City Press had not heard
(see below), saying that the
focus should be on humanitarian
access, and later lamenting the
continuing failure to deploy
cranes. The reason Inner City
Press was unable to get these
views, and others, on September
22 is, in a phrase, UN
censorship. To get to the
meeting, held in UN Conference
Room 5, Inner City Press unlike
other no-show reporters like
Egypt's Akhbar al Yom was
required to get a UN escort or
minder, who told Inner City
Press it could not ask questions
or speak with anyone. This
despite UN OCHA staff telling
Inner City Press it could wait
outside and speak to people as
they left. So the UN's
retaliatory eviction of Inner
City Press 19 months ago for
covering the now conflicted UN
corruption by Macau based
businessman Ng Lap Seng through
then PGA John Ashe now results
in it, unlike the Saudi and
pro-Saudi media in the meeting,
being unable to speak to the
participants. This has been
raised, so far without any
response, to Lowcock's fellow
Brit, the head of DPI Alison
Smale, here.
This is today's UN. We hope to
report more on Lowcock's views,
including hoping that OCHA
releases transcripts of what
Lowcock says. While Canada joins
The Netherlands at the UN in
Geneva in calling for an
investigation of possible war
crimes in Yemen including the
Saudi-led coalition's killing of
civilians, Canada has continued
a $15 billion arms deal with
Saudi Arabia. When Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
held a press conference at the
UN on September 21, Inner City
Press went early, intending to
ask him to explain this
incongruity or seeming
hypocrisy. Trudeau's spokesman
announced that the questioners
had been “pre-determined,” but
did not explain how. So in a
lull after what the spokesman
called the last question - would
Trudeau be a mediator on
Venezuela - Inner City Press
asked about Canadian arms sales
to Saudi while calling for a
probe. At first Trudeau said he
was happy to answer the
question. Then he said no, he
would not reward “bad behavior,”
and instead reached out for
question in French about day
care. (Inner City Press notes
that pre-determining questioners
is bad behavior. Apparently the
CBC journalist who was given the
first question agreed to it; the
organization only the day before
sent an Egyptian state media
correspondent as the lone “pooler”
in Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' meeting with General
Sisi.) Eearlier on September 21
when UK minister Alistair Burt
came in front of the UN Security
Council to speak about
accountability for Daesh in
Iraq, Inner City Press deferred
to a timely question about the
referendum in Kurdistan. Then
during lull - identical to
that in which it put its
question to Trudeau - Inner City
Press asked Burt about his
quote, about accountability for
the bombing of civilians in
Yemen by the Saudi-led Coalition
with UK bombs, that "Our view is
that it is for the Coalition
itself, in the first instance,
to conduct such investigations.
They have the best insight into
their own military procedures
and will be able to conduct the
most thorough and conclusive
investigations.” Inner City
Press asked how he can say this,
given that the Saudis have
investigated less than five
percent of the killings. Video here.
Burt's answer focused on the
peace process - what peace
process? At least Burt answered,
and did not like Trudeau try to
call merely asking the question
in a lull "bad behavior" - we'll
have more on this.
***
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