Federal Foreign Office spokesperson on the situation in Yemen

A Federal Foreign Office Spokesperson issued the following statement today (17 August) on reports of an air strike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northeastern Yemen and of a rocket attack on the city of Najran in southern Saudi Arabia:

“We are greatly concerned by the fresh increase in violence in Yemen and shocked by reports that a hospital has been bombed in the Hajjah Governorate in northeastern Yemen. We call for this matter to be investigated with all due speed. Moreover, we were appalled by reports of a further rocket attack on the city of Najran in southern Saudi Arabia. We condemn these attacks and call on those responsible to end the violence immediately.

The civilian victims of hostilities on both sides remind us that there can be no military solution to the Yemeni crisis. The parties to the conflict must return swiftly to a negotiation process under the auspices of the United Nations and refrain from all measures that could disrupt the continuation of these talks.”

Background information:

According to the aid organisation Doctors Without Borders, at least 14 people are thought to have been killed and many injured in an air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on a hospital in Abs in the northeast of the country. Seven people were killed by a rocket attack, attributed to Huthi insurgents, on the city of Najran in southern Saudi Arabia, according to reports by Saudi media. After three and a half months, UN-led Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait ceased on 6 August without reaching an agreement. Hostilities have since recommenced.

from
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2016/160817_YEM.html?nn=479796