UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 (APP):UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “condemns” today’s attacks on Abu Dhabi’s airport and the nearby industrial Musaffah area causing three civilian deaths, including one Pakistani man, that were claimed by Yemeni rebels — Houthis — saying the action violated international law.
“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law,” the UN chief said in a statement made by his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, at the regular noon briefing in New York on Monday.
“The Secretary-General calls upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any escalation amid heightened tensions in the region,” the statement said, adding, “There is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen.”
The secretary-general urges the parties to engage constructively and without preconditions with his Special Envoy Hans Grundberg and his mediation efforts with the aim to advance the political process to reach a comprehensive negotiated settlement to end the conflict in Yemen.
The conflict between a Saudi-led coalition of Gulf countries and the Government of Yemen against the Houthis movement, which escalated in March 2015, has so far caused more than 12,000 civilian deaths. Nearly four million people have been forced to flee their homes due to the bombing and fighting.
Twenty four million people – 80 percent of Yemen’s population – need emergency aid, the greatest number in any country in the world.
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