Riyadh: The Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen said on Friday it wanted urgent talks with Medecins Sans Frontieres — also known by its French acronym, MSF — over the charity’s withdrawal of staff from six hospitals in the war-torn country.
MSF said on Thursday it was evacuating its staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a health facility operated by the group killing 19 people.
“The coalition to support the legitimacy in Yemen expressed its deep regret over [the] MSF decision to evacuate its staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen and asserts its appreciation for the work the group is undertaking with the Yemeni people in these difficult circumstances,” the coalition said in a statement reported by Saudi state news agency SPA.
The coalition said it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law in all its operations in Yemen and had set up an independent team to investigate incidents in which civilians are killed.
“We very much regret MSF’s decision to evacuate staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen,” the coalition said.
“We are seeking urgent discussions with MSF to understand how we can work together to resolve this situation.”
MSF is one of handful of international medical aid groups operating on the ground in Yemen where a 16-month civil war between a Gulf Arab coalition and an Iran-allied militia has killed more than 6,500 people and brought one of world’s poorest countries close to famine.
MSF’s decision came after 19 people died in an air strike Monday on an MSF-supported hospital in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja.
That was the fourth and deadliest attack yet on an MSF facility during the war, the charity said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the air strike and called for an investigation, which the coalition said it would conduct.
MSF said it had met with officials from the Saudi-led coalition and shared GPS coordinates of the hospital it operates in with parties involved in the conflict but aerial bombings had continued.
The Arab coalition began air raids in March last year, later sending in ground forces, to support the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi after Al Houthi rebels and their allies overran much of Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has said it uses highly accurate laser and GPS-guided weapons, and it verifies targets many times in order to avoid civilian casualties.
A coalition investigative team is conducting independent probes into the hospital strike and an air raid last Saturday on a Quranic school that MSF said killed 10 children in Saada province, also held by the rebels in Yemen’s north.
“The coalition is committed to full respect for international humanitarian law in the conduct of our operations in Yemen,” the alliance statement said.
