UN adds name to list of sanctioned Yemenis

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday renewing for one year its individual sanctions against Yemenis and adding the name of the director of the Criminal Investigation Department in Sanaa to the list.

The text, drafted by the United Kingdom, was adopted by 14 council members, with only Russia abstaining, according to diplomats.

The resolution renews until February 2022 the financial sanctions and travel bans imposed on certain Yemenis and extends until March 2022 the mandate of the group of experts charged with monitoring them.

The resolution stresses "the need for de-escalation across Yemen and a nationwide ceasefire." It condemns the fighting in northern Marib and the continued attacks by Huthi rebels on Saudi Arabia, calling for the "immediate cessation of attacks without preconditions."

The text also adds a name to the list of people sanctioned: Saleh Aida Aida Zabin, the head of the department of criminal investigation.

He "engaged in acts that threaten the peace, security and stability of Yemen, including violations of applicable international humanitarian law and human rights abuses," said the Security Council in the resolution.

"He has played a prominent role in a policy of intimidation and use of systematic arrest, detention, torture, sexual violence and rape against politically active women."

The Security Council also stressed the need for UN experts to have access as quickly as possible to the long-abandoned fuel tanker, the FSO Safer, off the coast of Hodeida in the west, an area under Huthi control.

The UN has been asking for more than two years to gain access to the ship, which threatens to cause a massive oil spill.

Their requests have so far been in vain.