US Magazine condemns UN pandering to Saudi-led invasion coalition

In These Times Magazine has criticized the United Nations for its dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Yemen that has been caused by the war.

“The international body is withholding criticism from the U.S.-Saudi military coalition, and is effusively praising its leaders to avoid jeopardizing donations to humanitarian funds aimed at helping ease the suffering created by that war,”In These Times Magazine reported.

In an article titled “First You Bomb and Starve a Country. Then You’re Praised for Sending in Aid”, the magazine slams the Saudi-led invasion and the hypocrisy of Riyadh’s propaganda about sending humanitarian aid into Yemen.

The magazine quoted Jehan Hakim, the chairman of the Yemeni Alliance Committee, as saying that “the hand we’re asking to feed Yemen is the same hand that is helping to bomb them.”

The article also indicated that the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has removed the Saudi military coalition, which has been waging war in Yemen for more than five years, from an international blacklist of states and armed groups responsible for killing and maiming children.

The US magazine confirmed that the move provoked instant rebuke from anti-war and humanitarian organisations, particularly as it coincided with reports that Saudi coalition had bombed a vehicle in northern Yemen, killing 13 civilians, four of them children.

“They’re trying to curry favor so that Saudi Arabia will pony up more money for Yemen, to keep humanitarian aid going,” the article concluded.