Saudi Arabia has threatened other countries over a proposed resolution at the UN’s leading human rights body that would send international, independent investigators into war-torn Yemen.
A Saudi letter obtained by The Associated Press shows the kingdom has warned that adoption of the proposal by Canada and the Netherlands at the Human Rights Council could “negatively affect” their trade and diplomatic ties with the oil kingdom, ABC News reported.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are pushing a rival resolution that would reinforce a domestic investigation under the Saudi-backed government.
The competing approaches over violations in Yemen’s 2 1/2-year war are perhaps the biggest showdown at the council session that ends Friday. Two western diplomats confirmed their countries had received the letter. The Saudi ambassador in Geneva said he was not aware of it.
Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015. Riyadh’s aggression, which has killed more than 13,000, was launched in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive president Abd-Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh. The campaign also seeks to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The US-backed Saudi airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals, and markets, killing thousands of civilians and prompting rights groups to accuse the coalition of war crimes. Activists have called upon Western countries, including the United States and Britain, to cease their military support for the coalition.
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