Yemen’s Foreign Ministry calls for replacing UN coordinator

Yemen’s Foreign Affairs Ministry accused UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick of siding with Houthi militias and violating international resolutions.

An official source at the ministry condemned McGoldrick’s “biased statements”, which “raise doubts about the real goals that the coordinator seeks to achieve and the background behind his repeated stances” in support of the militias, “despite the crimes committed against civilians and continued kidnappings of citizens.”

“The statement issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jimmy McGoldrick, on December 28, 2017 was biased, politicized and unprofessional. It did not address the crimes committed by the insurgents and ignored the real tragic situation created by the militias, which resulted in further violations, confiscation of funds and destruction of public and private properties, as well as intimidation of citizens and the transformation of Sanaa into a large prison,” the Yemeni source said, as reported by Saba official news agency.

The Yemeni foreign ministry went on to call on the United Nations to investigate the “real goals” behind McGoldrick’s statements and to implement changes in the staff of the Coordinator’s office.

“The Yemeni foreign ministry, which believes in the importance of the role of international frameworks working in the protection of human rights, calls on the United Nations to reconsider and investigate the real objectives of the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen and even calls for a radical change in the staff of the Office of the Coordinator, beginning with McGoldrick, in order to guarantee a real and impartial assessment of the abuses committed by the Houthi terrorist militias,” the statement added.

The foreign ministry held “the Iranian militias responsible for the acts of violence against innocent civilians across the Yemeni governorates and for the lack of respect for the principles of international humanitarian law.”

It is noteworthy that the statement of the Yemeni foreign ministry was preceded by a strong response issued by the coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen, in which it denounced McGoldrick’s statement, noting that the coordinator has violated Security Council resolutions when he described Houthi militias as a “de facto authority.”

On its hand, The Arab Coalition voiced regret Thursday over a statement made by Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick in which he appeared biased towards Houthi militias backed by Iran.

Spokesman for the coalition Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that McGoldrick’s statement intentionally called the insurgents “de facto authorities”, contrary to the resolutions of the UN Security Council and United Nations statements, and in an attempt to legitimize coup militias in Yemen.

Maliki accused the UN official of misleading the international public opinion by spreading information taken from Houthi media outlets without asking for verification from the coalition through the available channels.

He also accused McGoldrick of bias towards Houthi militias and politicizing the humanitarian work, ignoring the crimes committed by the insurgents against the Yemeni people, the latest of which were the killings, kidnappings and arrests made against the former Yemeni president and hundreds of members of his General People's Congress Party, their children and women as well as the targeting of civilians.

The Coalition Forces Spokesman further said that McGoldrick’s remarks “create a constant state of uncertainty about the information and data on which the United Nations relies, and undermines its credibility”.

He deplored this biased stance and stressed the need for the UN to review the humanitarian mechanism and the efficiency of its staff working in Yemen.

In another context, the militias mobilized in Sana’a and areas that fall under their control to recruit students and orphans as militia fighters, academic sources in Sana’a, who preferred to remain anonymous for security considerations, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Militias’ attempts to recruit students extended to the provinces of Dhamar, Mahwit, Hajjah and Raymah, amid notifications from parents that some high-school students have disappeared, assuming that militias have kidnapped and recruited them.

Houthi officer Hassan Zaid, who is also the minister for youth and sports in the coup government, had called at the start of the academic year for shutting down all schools and sending students to the battlefield.