U.N. urges Yemen’s factions to cease attacks on civilians; Opposition blames regime for killings

The United Nations called on all factions in Yemen on Tuesday to cease deadly attacks on civilians and urged the government to allow access for aid supplies and U.N. human rights monitors.

“We condemn continuing attacks on civilians particularly in Taez where we are seeing reports that 22 people have been killed in shooting and shelling since Thursday (Dec. 1), including two children,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, told a news briefing.

“The continued use of disproportionate force on the part of the government forces despite commitments made to investigate serious human rights violations is extremely disappointing,” she said. “We urge all sides to halt the use of violent force.”

Forces loyal to outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead a woman in a protest march in Taez on Monday, witnesses and activists said, despite tanks withdrawing under a ceasefire pact.

Another civilian was killed when a shell hit a bus in Yemen’s second city of Taez where fighting has cost more than 30 lives since last week, medics said, as the opposition blamed the regime for the violence.

The bus was heading towards the restive northern Al-Hasab district of the flashpoint city late on Monday when it was hit by an artillery round fired by Saleh’s troops.

After a lull in the fighting on Sunday, clashes between armed tribesmen and Saleh’s forces erupted in Taez late on Monday.

Earlier the same day, two women were killed and six people were wounded when Saleh’s forces fired on a crowd of anti-regime protesters in the city.

The latest deaths brought to 34 the number of people killed in Taez since Thursday.

Brief overnight clashes between tribesmen loyal to dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar and Saleh’s troops also shook Sana’s northern al-Hasaba district, but no casualties were reported.

Hundreds of people have been killed nationwide since an uprising began against Saleh’s 33-year-long rule in late January.

On November 23, Saleh signed a Gulf-brokered and U.N.-backed transfer deal to transfer power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in return for immunity from prosecution.

Opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan accused “Saleh and his sons” of orchestrating the violence in Taez.

Saleh’s son Ahmed commands the elite Republican Guards, who have been repeatedly locked in deadly confrontations with dissidents.

Opposition sources have said the ambassadors of several Gulf and Western countries in Sana’a, monitoring the implementation of the Gulf deal, have asked to visit Taez.

Monday’s killings came a day after Hadi formed a military commission under the Gulf Cooperation Council agreement to oversee the res