UN Blacklisting of Saudi-Led Coalition Was US Warning to Riyadh, Analyst Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A Lebanese political analyst described the United Nations’ move to place a Saudi-led military coalition against Yemen on a children's rights blacklist as Washington’s alarming signal to Riyadh, noting that the coalition’s later removal from the list was also arranged by the US.
In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Qaleb Qandil said the US used the United Nations as a tool to send an alarming signal to Saudi Arabia by placing the Saudi-led coalition on the children's rights blacklist.
Since the Saudi crimes against Yemeni people have posed a challenge to Western leaders, Washington decided to give a warning to Riyadh via the UN, he explained.
Qandil also noted that the UN’s recent decision to drop the Saudi-led coalition from the blacklist was also made in coordination with the US.
“UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon does not seem at all to take any measure without coordination with the US… The very same country (US) that had ordered Ban Ki-moon to blacklist Saudi Arabia, ordered that it be removed from the list,” the analyst stated.
Indeed, the US is trying to warn Saudi Arabia to end its futile campaign against Yemen, because such a war could jeopardize the existence of Saudis, Qandil underlined.
Cognizant of the fact that Saudi Arabia’s pigheaded insistence on aggression against Yemen would have dire consequences for Riyadh, the US, which never wants the Al Saud regime to be dissolved, seeks the regime survive to implement its policies in the region, he noted.
The Saudi-led coalition –including Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan- was placed on the United Nations list over its military campaign against Yemen, after the UN report on children and armed conflict said the coalition was responsible for 60% of the 1,953 children recorded as killed or maimed in Yemen in 2015.
But on Wednesday, the UN removed the coalition from the blacklist. UN sources said Ban Ki-moon’s office was barraged with calls from the Arab foreign ministers and ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) following the blacklisting.
A diplomatic source, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were “bullying, threats, pressure”, adding it was “real blackmail”.
He also said there was a real risk of “clerics in Riyadh meeting to issue a fatwa against the UN, declaring it anti-Muslim, which would mean no contacts of OIC members, no relations, contributions, support, to any UN projects, programs.”
Diplomatic sources said the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) would suffer if the blacklisting was upheld, as Saudi allegedly threatened to pull its funding.
Saudi Arabia is the fourth biggest contributor to UNRWA after the United States, European Union and Britain, having contributed nearly $100 million in 2015.
Human rights groups have reacted angrily to the news, accusing Ban of giving in to pressure and suggesting the U-turn could harm his legacy as his time at the helm of the UN comes to an end.
Human rights organization Amnesty International described the UN's actions as "blatant pandering" to Saudi Arabia that "undermines all of the UN's work to protect children caught up in war."
