UN Aid Chief Urges Probe on Saudi Bombing of Yemen Wedding

Friday, 9 October 2015

UN Aid Chief Urges Probe on Saudi Bombing of Yemen Wedding

Local Editor

Yemen: Saudi-US aggression

The top United Nations aid official called for a swift investigation Thursday of a Saudi-US air strike that killed dozens of people at a wedding in Yemen.

Stephen O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said he was "deeply disturbed" by the news that civilians had been killed in Wednesday evening's bombing.

"I call for a swift, transparent and impartial investigation into this incident," O'Brien said in a statement.

"Real accountability for parties to conflict, whether they are states or non-state groups, is urgently needed, to ensure that the commitment under international law to protect civilians is meaningful," he added.

O'Brien quoted Yemen's ministry of public health as saying that at least 47 people were killed and 35 were injured, among them many women and children, in the strike.

Medical sources confirmed at least 28 deaths to AFP.

The raid hit a house where dozens of people were celebrating in the town of Sanban in Dhamar province, 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of the capital Sanaa, residents said.

It was the second air strike by the Saudi-led coalition on a Yemeni wedding party in just over a week.

O'Brien said that 4,500 civilians have been killed or injured since the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes against rebels in Yemen in March.

"That is more than in any country or crisis in the world during the same period," he noted.

The strongly-worded statement underscored that the sides have a responsibility under international law to avoid damage to homes and other civilian structures.

"With modern weapons technology, there is little excuse for error," he added.

A Western-backed resolution calling for a UN investigation into rights abuses committed during the Saudi-US aggression on Yemen was withdrawn last week at the UN rights council due to protests from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 197 days now to restore power to fugitive President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 6,433 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Yemeni military, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.