[13/09/2017 03:00]

GENEVA-SABA
Human Rights Minister Mohammed Askarsaid, "what is happing in Yemen is a full-blown coup d'état by an armed militia backed by some rebel military units; Not a difference of political views that turned to an armed conflict, as some people believe."

Addressing the 36th session of UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, on Wednesday, Askar said,"unfortunatelyamong them [those who image the Yemeni situation in this way]are the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR and some countries concerned with human rights issues in Yemen."

Askr gave an overview of the coup militias' atrocities that include the "killing of hundreds of pro-government citizens, civilians and military; the mass abductions campaign; occupation and destructions of state institutions and houses of government officials; and armed invasion of the capital Sana'a which continues to the present day."

The Sana'a invasion "prompted President Hadi to appeal for an Arab intervention and prompted the government to use force to counter the putschists' ruthless and devastating expansions, which was oriented to devastate the whole of Yemen and the whole region."

Askar said the militias rebuff the idea "of being a legal political actor, as all the other political parties in a diverse Yemen that respects pluralism."
He said the militias are determined to "stay as an armed group of a diehard belief in a wrong religious idea divisive for the society."
"And it (the group) is fighting to abolish the pluralism that we have been consisting of, which led to the fall of many victims and wreaked huge havoc and bred the miseries that the Yemenis are suffering now."

Askar said, "the militias have recruited around 20 thousand child soldiers and planted more than 200 thousand landmines. An overt violation of the children's rights and the international covenant banning the anti-personnel landmines.

He said that "the Saleh-Houthi militias' coup d'état has incurred a real catastrophe in all arenas."

He emphasized "the urgent need for internationally united move to end the rebellion, so as to make the solution possible as per the GCC Initiative, the outcomes of the National Dialogue and the UNSC resolutions especially resolution no. 2216."

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