UN takes Saudi coalition off Yemen list of child violators

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has removed the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen from a list of government forces that committed grave violations against children last year pending a joint review of cases following a vehement Saudi protest.

Saudi Arabia's UN Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi insisted on Monday several times that "the removal is unconditional and irreversible," explaining that the government is confident a review will conclude that the coalition was "wrongly placed on the list."

Earlier, he said the government was deeply disappointed at the inclusion which was based on "inaccurate and incomplete" information.

The secretary-general's annual report on children and armed conflict released Thursday said that the UN documented 1,953 deaths and injuries of children in Yemen in 2015, 60% of them attributed to the coalition.