Investigators of the UN commission on human rights met on Wednesday with Yemeni government officials and opposition leaders as well as protesters in Yemen's capital in order to inspect human rights situation.


UN investigator (L) talks with the opposition leader Sadiq al-Ahmar in Sanaa, capital of Yemen on June 30, 2011. Investigators of the UN commission on human rights met with Yemeni government officials and opposition leaders as well as protesters in Yemen's capital in order to inspect human rights situation. (Xinhua/Ahmad)
The delegation, which arrived in Sanaa on Tuesday after nearly five months of political unrest in Yemen, met earlier the day with the country's Interior Minister Mutahar Rashad al-Masri.

Masri briefed the UN officials on the casualties resulting from pitched street battles between security forces and armed tribesmen loyal to opposition powerful tribal leader Sadiq al-Ahmar in downtown Sanaa since late May.

"As many as 137 citizens and 118 policemen were killed by the armed tribesmen during the weeks-long clashes," the official Saba news agency quoted al-Masri as saying.

He said that the battles also left 1,402 citizens injured and 70 houses damaged in Hassaba area in Sanaa.

The minister also showed the UN investigators a documentary film on "repeated aggressions by the opposition-backed armed tribesmen against security men and government and private facilities in Sanaa and other southern provinces of Taiz and Aden. "

In a separate meeting, the opposition leader al-Ahmar, whose armed tribesmen engaged in fighting with government forces in Sanaa, told the UN investigators that 104 of his followers were killed during May battles, according to opposition media.

"When we finish our visit to Yemen, we will do a report and submit it to the UN Higher Commission in Geneva," head of the mission Hani Mujalli said, adding that "There would be recommendations and suggestions included in the report to be filed to the Yemeni government and to the international community as well as non-government human rights organizations."

"What we have heard was that the rivals were trading accusations ... We have not collected all information yet ... and we are still working to have all the needed information from both sides," Mujalli said.

The UN delegation was set to spend 10 day in Yemen.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet