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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post List

UNITED NATIONS GATE, February 6 – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on March 27 lavished praise on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman now accused with respect to Jamal Khashoggi, accepting a $930 million check from the Saudis and UAE, with not a word of the Saudi led bombing campaign that has killed civilians and caused cholera in Yemen. On February 6, " Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is dismayed by several findings of the team appointed by the Saudi and Emirati-led Coalition (SELC) to investigate the bombing of an MSF cholera treatment center (CTC) in Abs, Yemen, on June 11, 2018, and demands that the results of the investigation be reviewed and false allegations against MSF be withdrawn.  In a press conference held without notice on January 16, 2019, the SELC-appointed body for investigating such incidents, the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), made various unacceptable and contradictory claims that portray MSF as responsible for, rather than a victim of, the bombing.  While the report recognizes that the SELC was partly responsible for the bombing, it fails to shed full light on—and attribute clear responsibilities for—yet another attack on humanitarian and medical work in Yemen. Instead, the report seeks to shift responsibility for the attack away from the SELC, claiming that MSF did not take the appropriate measures to prevent the bombing.  The report claims, for example, that MSF failed to display a distinctive emblem on the facility and did not explicitly request that the facility be placed on a no-strike list. In fact, the compound containing the CTC had three distinctive logos displayed, while MSF shared its location at least 12 times in writing with the correct Coalition authorities.  "Under international humanitarian law, medical facilities are protected and may not be lawfully targeted even if they are not marked, or if the geographical locations have not been shared with warring parties," said Teresa Sancristoval, MSF operations director. "It is the sole responsibility of armed parties to the conflict to proactively take all necessary measures to ensure that protected facilities are not attacked. The onus cannot be on civilians and medical staff."   While no staff or patients were killed in the attack, damage to the newly constructed center rendered it nonfunctional and incapable of receiving patients from the surrounding area, which has a population of more than one million.  MSF facilities in Yemen have been hit five times by Coalition airstrikes since March 2015. Access to MSF's medical facilities is crucial for the civilian population, as only about half of all health facilities in Yemen are fully functional, and outbreaks of cholera and other preventable diseases are occurring regularly." On January 31 the UN Security Council held a meeting on Yemen, but it was closed-door and afterward only pro-Coalition Kuwait spoke on camera.  Guterres himself is no paragon of  transparency and anti-corruption and press freedom. Beyond Guterres' MOU with MBS, his Global Communicator Alison Smale has appointed Maher Nasser, who blocks the Press on Twitter, as chief promoter of the UAE's Expo 2020 Dubai, see Inner City Press exclusive here. Now on February 5, from Guterres' Office of the Spokesperson - not signed by lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric- this: "Houthi and Government of Yemen representatives of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) continued to meet on 4 and 5 February aboard a United Nations vessel berthed in the Port of Hudaydah. The parties have engaged in long and intense discussions both yesterday and today in order to find mutually acceptable solutions and associated timelines for the implementation of the Hudaydah provisions in the Stockholm Agreement. The RCC Chair, General Patrick Cammaert, commended both parties for demonstrating good-will and engaging constructively together to overcome trust issues and to find viable solutions that would eventually demilitarize the ports and city of Hudaydah and facilitate life-saving humanitarian operations.     Weeks of sustained engagement by the RCC Chair and his team are beginning to pay off. Today, the Parties are closer to agreeing modalities for phase one redeployment than they were six weeks ago.  They are grappling with the complexities of disengaging forces in close proximity of each other and the gradual redeployment of heavy weapons, armor, and infantry. The Parties are fully aware of the international spotlight on their efforts to implement the Hudaydah agreement and its implications for the broader peace process for Yemen.     The parties will continue discussions tomorrow under the auspices of Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard, who assumed his duties as RCC Chair and Head of UNMHA on the evening of 5 February." Cammaert, who covered up for the UN in South Sudan, is out. On January 29 not Guterres' murky UN but the Saudi Press Agency announced that “The Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed his gratitude for the Kingdom’s support in pushing for positive results in the dialogue between the Yemeni parties." Meanwhile, from Washington DC on January 30, the day after Sen Jeff Merkley against raised the Saudis' activities in Oregon, this: "Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) renewed their efforts in the Senate and House Wednesday to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution. 

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