Subject: Morning Brief: U.N. experts describe possible war crimes in Yemen
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Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2018 09:06:36 -0500 (CDT)

U.N. Experts Describe Possible War Crimes in Yemen

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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy

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08/28/2018

08/28/2018

TOP NEWS

U.N. Experts Describe Possible War Crimes in Yemen

Top News: According to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Saudi-led, U.S. backed coalition fighting in Yemen has committed acts that may amount to war crimes, including indiscriminate airstrikes causing at least 16,000 civilian casualties since March 2015.

“In the past three years, [coalition] air strikes have hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities,” the report says.

The United States has transferred billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen, including the 500-pound laser-guided MK 82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin that hit a school bus earlier this month, killing dozens of students on a field trip.

The report also described human rights violations that could constitute war crimes on the part of both Saudi-led forces and their Houthi rebel opponents, including, rape, torture, kidnapping, and recruiting child soldiers.

“There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimize civilian casualties,” Kamel Jendoubi, chair of the U.N. group of Yemen experts, said in a statement. “I call on them to prioritise human dignity in this forgotten conflict.”

United States: The Trump administration said it would pay out $4.7 billion to farmers hit by the president’s trade policies, and would buy $1.2 billion worth of agricultural products from U.S. farmers targeted by retaliatory measures.

AFRICA

•  Nigerian police arrested 57 people at a party on suspicion of being gay.

•  Philomena Mwilu, Kenya's deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court, was detained on corruption allegations.

•  Visiting Cape Town, British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed support for South African land reforms if enacted legally, transparently, and democratically—in stark contrast to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweet on the matter last week. May also said she wants Britain to be the largest investor in Africa by 2022 and pledged $4.5 billion in development financing.

AMERICAS

•  Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland arrived in Washington Tuesday to continue trade talks with the United States after the news that the United States and Mexico had reached an agreement.

•  Colombian President Iván Duque appointed controversial right-wing politician Alejandro Ordoñez as the country’s ambassador to the Organization of American States.

•  Brazil’s soy boom is threatening the ecological future of the country’s tropical savanna, Reuters reports.

ASIA

•  Russia is set to hold its largest war games in nearly four decades next month, in cooperation with the Chinese and Mongolian militaries.

•  Hun Sen, Cambodia’s authoritarian prime minister, pardoned 14 imprisoned opposition activists.

•  The opposition in the Maldives accused President Abdulla Yameen of rigging the upcoming September elections.

EUROPE

•  At least 18 people were injured when violence broke out between far-right neo-Nazi protesters and left-wing counter-protesters in Chemnitz, Germany.

•  French President called for greater defense cooperation among European countries, saying on Monday that “Europe can no longer entrust its security to the United States alone. It’s up to us to guarantee our security.”

•  Jaroslaw Gowin, Poland’s deputy prime minister, said his country would “will probably have no choice” other than ignoring the European Court of Justice if it strikes down a Polish law forcing the retirement of older Supreme Court justices.

MIDDLE EAST

•  France told its diplomats to postpone all nonessential travel to Iran.

•  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed his country’s economic malaise on an “American conspiracy” in the first time he’s been summoned to parliament in his five years in office.

•  U.S. lawmakers told Turkey that if it stopped pursuing a deal to buy Russian missile systems the United States would resume selling it F-35 fighter jets, according to reports in the Turkish media.

- By Benjamin Soloway

(Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

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