Alwaght- UN investigators accused a Saudi Arabia-led military alliance of carrying out a deadly March attack on a Somali migrant boat off Yemen adding that the coalition is now a cover for some states to avoid individual blame.
The Saudi-led coalition currently engaged in an illegal invasion of Yemen denied striking the boat in the Red Sea near the port of Hodeidah. The investigators said the attack killed 42 people and injured 34 of the more than 140 people onboard.
"This civilian vessel was almost certainly attacked using a 7.62 mm caliber weapon from an armed utility helicopter," the investigators, who monitor sanctions in Yemen, wrote in a 185-page report to the U.N. Security Council on Monday.
"The Saudi Arabia led coalition forces are the only parties to the conflict that have the capability to operate armed utility helicopters in the area," the report said. It said the helicopter was likely operating from a naval vessel.
A Saudi-led coalition started an illegal aggression on Yemen in March 2015 to oust the popular Ansarullah movement and restore to power fugitive Abdul Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who resigned as president and fled to Riyadh. The Saudis have failed to achieve their stated objective and are now stuck in the Yemen quagmire while indiscriminately bombarding the impoverished stated on an almost daily basis.
The Saudi war on Yemen, one of the world's most impoverished countries, has killed nearly 13,000 people and left tens of thousands wounded while displacing millions.
The Saudi-led coalition includes Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan.
The UN report said the attack violated international humanitarian law and threatened the peace, security and stability of Yemen.
It said two other attacks on fishing vessels by helicopter or naval vessels in the Red Sea in March had killed another 11 people and injured eight.
It said the Saudi-led coalition, the governments of the UAE and Egypt and the Combined Maritime Forces had not responded to the investigators' requests for information.
The Saudi-led coalition receives US, UK and Israeli arms and logistical support.
"Some individual member states of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition seek to hide behind 'the entity' of the coalition to shield themselves from state responsibility for violations committed by their forces," the investigators said. They did not identify the states by name.
"Attempts to divert responsibility in this manner from individual states to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition may contribute to further violations continuing with impunity," they wrote.
After the deadly incident Somalia has blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the death of its citizens. The country’s foreign minister Abdisalam Omer said “What happened there was a horrific and terrible problem inflicted on innocent Somali people. The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is responsible for it.”
Human rights groups and anti-war activists are calling on countries to stop selling the Saudi-led coalition weapons that were being used in violation of the rules of war.
