UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on June 22nd hosted Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman for talks that touched on the row between the world body and Riyadh over the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen.
The meeting at UN headquarters in New York was low-key, and neither Ban nor the Saudi prince spoke to reporters.
A UN statement said the two men had discussed “putting into place concrete measures that could improve the situation on the ground” in Yemen, notably with respect to protecting children and civilians affected by the conflict.
Tensions flared recently when the UN briefly blacklisted the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, after an expert report found it responsible for 60 percent of the 785 children killed in the country last year.
The blacklisting infuriated Saudis, and the UN removed the coalition from the list pending a fact review. But Ban went on to publicly accuse Riyadh — a major UN donor — and its allies of financial blackmail, saying they threatened to cut off funds to certain UN agencies, including a Palestinian aid program.
Ban is to formally present the report on children and armed conflict to the UN Security Council in August and, during the meeting with the Saudi prince, he “expressed the hope that… he could point to progress on the protection of children and civilians in Yemen” by that time.
Ban “remains open to receiving any new elements from Saudi Arabia and hoped that discussions would take place soon,” the statement from Ban’s office said.