Yemen to expel UN human rights official

UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES — Yemen has declared the leading UN rights official in the country persona non grata, the UN said Thursday, describing the decision as “an extremely regrettable development”.

George Abu Al Zulof, the head of the UN human rights office in Yemen, “has been doing an excellent job,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Yemen›s foreign ministry said in a statement that the UN official had not been “impartial” in his assessments of the human rights situation in the country.

It indicated that Zulof may have been misinformed by his local staff in rebel-held Sanaa.

The decision came just days after the United Nations raised alarm over the use of cluster bombs by the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen›s government in its war against the Huthi rebels.

The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday that its staff in Yemen had found remnants of 29 cluster bombs during a field visit in Haradh district in the northwest.

UN officials said they had been notified by Yemeni officials of the decision against Zulof and they were awaiting official notification asking him to leave the country.

The United Nations has been increasingly concerned by the mounting civilian toll in Yemen and the dire humanitarian crisis.

Yemen descended into chaos when the coalition began air strikes in March to push back Huthi rebels who had seized the capital Sanaa.

More than 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 wounded since then, according to UN figures.