Abu Dhabi, April 07: Yemen’s government and the Shiite rebels it fought for years should investigate allegations they both committed war crimes and hold perpetrators to account, a human rights group urged Wednesday.
The government reached a cease-fire agreement with the northern Hawthi rebels in February. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the truce contains no accountability provisions, however, and called on both sides to investigate the allegations.
The report released in Dubai outlines a series of alleged abuses based on interviews conducted with civilians and aid workers.
Allegations include indiscriminate bombing and shelling by government forces, and a list of accusations including on-the-spot executions and the use of human shields by rebels.
The rights group accuses both sides of using child soldiers.
Hawthi rebels have fought Yemen’s government sporadically for years, complaining of neglect and sectarian discrimination. Fighting flared up again last August before coming to a halt earlier this year.
The cease-fire deal reached in February — one of several truces signed over the course of the six-year conflict — calls on the rebels to disarm and release captured soldiers and property.
Human Rights Watch said it based the 54-page report on interviews in October with civilians who witnessed fighting in Yemen’s northern Saada and Amran provinces, as well as with humanitarian aid workers. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians since 2004.
The group said it was unable to visit the sites of alleged crimes because the government has restricted access to the conflict area.
In addition to the conflict in the north, Yemen’s weak central government is struggling to contain unrest in the south from an increasingly vocal separatist movement.
It is also trying to fight a threat from al-Qaida militants that have set up operations in the country, the poorest in the Arab world.
—Agencies