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Civilian casualties continue to mount in Yemen: UN human rights chief

Xinhua, March 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Civilian casualties continue to mount in Yemen, with a total of at least 168 civilians killed and 193 injured in February, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday.

An agency spokesperson said since March 26, 2015, OHCHR has documented a total of 3,081 civilians killed and 5,733 injured.

"These figures do not include casualties among the fighters on either side, they refer solely to reported civilian casualties," the spokesperson noted.

In November last year, there was a marked decrease in air strike casualties. But since then, the number has risen sharply, with the number killed almost doubling between January and February. The number of civilian casualties recorded last month was the highest since last September, the spokesperson added.

The single-worst incident took place on Feb. 27 when at least 39 civilians, including nine children, were killed with another 33 injured by an air strike on the Khaleq market in a north-eastern district of Sana'a.

According to OHCHR, civilian infrastructure continued to be destroyed or damaged throughout February, with both parties targeting protected civilian sites.

On Feb. 3, 14 civilians were killed and 53 injured, including children, after air strikes reportedly hit a cement factory in Amran. In the same incident, 11 houses and shops were damaged and 11 vehicles destroyed, including an ambulance and a police car.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein is scheduled to present an oral update on the human rights situation of Yemen during the ongoing 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Yemen was plunged into violence in September 2014 when the Shiite Houthi group invaded the country's capital Sana'a, driving President Abd Rabbuh Hadi into exile.

The conflict soon turned into a civil war between pro-government forces and Houthi rebels backed by troops loyal to former president Saleh, triggering foreign military intervention by Saudi-led coalition warplanes to restore the internationally recognized government of Hadi.

For now, ground fighting is still continuing on a daily basis in other provinces of Taiz, Marib, al-Jawf and the Yemeni-Saudi shared borders in the Yemeni northwest province of Hajja.

The warring forces have failed to reach a political solution or agree to resume talks after their latest UN-sponsored negotiations in Switzerland in December.

The deadlock came after former pro-rebel president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said he would not negotiate with Hadi's government, vowing to "continue fighting to expel the coalition forces out of the Yemeni territories." Enditem