The Arab Coalition voiced regret Thursday over a statement made by Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick in which he appeared biased towards Houthi militias backed by Iran.
Spokesman for the coalition Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that McGoldrick’s statement intentionally called the insurgents “de facto authorities”, contrary to the resolutions of the UN Security Council and United Nations statements, and in an attempt to legitimize coup militias in Yemen.
Maliki accused the UN official of misleading the international public opinion by spreading information taken from Houthi media outlets without asking for verification from the coalition through the available channels.
He also accused McGoldrick of bias towards Houthi militias and politicizing the humanitarian work, ignoring the crimes committed by the insurgents against the Yemeni people, the latest of which were the killings, kidnappings and arrests made against the former Yemeni president and hundreds of members of his General People's Congress Party, their children and women as well as the targeting of civilians.
The Coalition Forces Spokesman further said that McGoldrick’s remarks “create a constant state of uncertainty about the information and data on which the United Nations relies, and undermines its credibility”.
He deplored this biased stance and stressed the need for the UN to review the humanitarian mechanism and the efficiency of its staff working in Yemen.
In another context, the militias mobilized in Sana’a and areas that fall under their control to recruit students and orphans as militia fighters, academic sources in Sana’a, who preferred to remain anonymous for security considerations, told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Militias’ attempts to recruit students extended to the provinces of Dhamar, Mahwit, Hajjah and Raymah, amid notifications from parents that some high-school students have disappeared, assuming that militias have kidnapped and recruited them.
Houthi officer Hassan Zaid, who is also the minister for youth and sports in the coup government, had called at the start of the academic year for shutting down all schools and sending students to the battlefield.
