UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in public comments on Thursday that Saudi Arabia had exerted “unacceptable” pressure on the world body after a U.N. report blacklisted a Saudi-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen, according to reports.
Moon said financing for humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, South Sudan and Syria would be compromised if he did not remove the Saudi-led coalition from the list, according to the New York Times.
“I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many U.N. programs.”
Ban did not specifically say the Saudis had threatened to cut off funding. He also noted that he stands by the report and the UN, “will assess the complaints that have been made, but the content will not change.”
Saudi Arabia denies the accusation, and said that no threats were used on UN to remove Arab-led coalition fighting in Yemen from child rights blacklist. “We did not use threats or intimidation and we did not talk about funding,” Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi said. “It is not in our style, it is not in our genes, it is not in our culture to use threats and intimidation. We have the greatest respect for the United Nations institution,” Mouallimi told reporters shortly after Ban spoke, according to Reuters.
Writing in the New York Times, Somini Sengupta said the admission (video below) amounted to “a rare window into the limits of his moral and political authority — and an object lesson for whoever succeeds Mr. Ban next year.”
