U.N. Accuses Yemen of Using Deadly Force in Protests

A United Nations report published Tuesday says the Yemeni government has used excessive and deadly force against peaceful demonstrators, killing hundreds and wounding thousands since the beginning of the year.

The report, published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged immediate international action to alleviate a humanitarian crisis and prevent the country from falling into further chaos.

A delegation sent by the office visited Yemen’s three main cities at the end of June, according to the report, and found “an overall situation where many Yemenis peacefully calling for greater freedoms, an end to corruption and respect for rule of law were met with excessive and disproportionate use of lethal force by the state.”

The United Nations team said it met with officials including the vice president and acting head of state, Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi, as well as political party leaders, members of parliament and the judiciary, lawyers and other prominent private citizens. Over nine days in Sana, Aden and Taiz, the team collected thousands of pages of documents and photographs, 1,800 videos and 160 compact discs — evidence that it “archived for appropriate future use, ” the report said.

Yemen’s attorney general has said the government is investigating the killing of peaceful protesters, but ordinary Yemenis generally have little or no faith in their country’s judicial system and do not expect the government to hold those responsible for crimes accountable, the report says.

Beyond the violence against protesters, the report accused the government of trying to pressure and punish the civilian population by cutting off access to electricity, fuel and water.

Initially peaceful protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is in Saudi Arabia recovering from injuries he sustained in a bombing of his palace, have been overtaken by an increasingly violent power struggle among government forces, tribal militias and other armed groups, including Islamic militants affiliated with Al Qaeda. The government had lost effective control of sizable areas of the country, including parts of major cities, the United Nations report said.

The political upheaval, collapsing economy and shortages of electricity and fuel have turned Yemen into “a bit of a powder keg waiting to explode,” Hanny Megally, who led the mission, told reporters. “If there’s not immediate help from outside, it could lead to the disintegration of the country and civil war.”

The United Nations report came a day after Mr. Saleh said he had given Mr. Hadi authority to negotiate with opponents for a transfer of power, along the lines of a proposal originally brokered by neighboring Persian Gulf states.

Protest leaders rejected negotiations and demanded that Mr. Saleh simply give up power.