Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

MSF Contradicts Itself about Saada Children | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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London – A recent Medecin Sans Frontiere (MSF) statement revealed contradictory information to its previous statement that was circulated by the media on Sunday, and the message sent to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

MSF said that Arab coalition warplanes targeted a children’s school, whereas a letter sent by MSF head of mission in Yemen Hassan Boucenine revealed that the site targeted was not an educational school but rather a religious, Quranic center.

Coalition spokesman General Ahmed Assiri said that the Yemeni government confirmed there is no school in that location.

MSF refused to respond to the coalition’s statement or send images of the children.

Boucenine said on the phone that everything is possible and that MSF received the children for treatment and couldn’t respond to what kind of rockets they were or the type of location in question.

He added that MSF doesn’t know what Quranic is and they didn’t know what happened on Saturday on the location, all what they can confirm is that the hospital received a number of children.

Contradiction is evident between MSF’s statement and its coordinator’s statement.

Assiri denied the allegations that coalition bombed a school saying that the coalition denies targeting a school and the coalition bombed a training camp in Saada, northern Yemen.

Assiri confirmed that they contacted the Yemeni government which confirmed there is no school in that area.

“The site that was bombed… is a major training camp for militia,” Assiri said. “Why would children be at a training camp?”

He accused Houthis of using children as recruits, adding that when the plane bombs a site, it can’t differentiate between small and old.

Coalition spokesperson criticized the organization saying: “We hope MSF will take measures to stop the recruitment of children to fight in wars instead of crying over them on the media.”