U.S. senators in bid to end support for S’arabia in Yemen
Gabon accuses French company Veolia of pollution
UNITED States (U.S.) legislators have submitted a draft resolution calling for an end to American military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s war.
Senators Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee and Chris Murphy are pushing the draft resolution, unveiled on Wednesday, forward.
The bill intends to exploit a powerful but rarely activated provision in a 1973 law - the War Powers Act - that gives Congress the authority to overrule the president and withdraw troops if the former believes the conflict is not authorised.
“We believe that, as Congress has not declared war or authorised military force in this conflict, the United States (U.S.) involvement in Yemen is unconstitutional and unauthorised and American military support of the Saudi coalition must end,” Sanders said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Sanders stressed that under the Constitution, Congress is the only authority that can declare war, alluding to divisions in Anerica government between congression- al power and the president’s role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. A similar bid to end United States (U.S.) support for the war in Yemen was launched in November 2017 in a draft resolution sponsored by Congressman Ro Khanna. And while the resolution was passed, it was not implemented.
“Many Americans are unaware that the people of Yemen are suffering today from a devastating civil war with Saudi Arabia and their allies on one side and Houthi rebels on the other,” said Sanders.
“Many Americans are also not aware that American forces have been actively involved in support of the Saudis in this war, providing intelligence and aerial refuelling of planes, whose bombs have killed thousands of people and made this crisis far worse.”
Yemen has been torn apart by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels, allied with troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, captured large expanses of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
GABON accused French environmental services group Veolia on Tuesday of widespread pollution at SEEG, the power and water utility it operates there, amid a growing dispute over the company’s concession.
Veolia, which has already threatened legal action after the government seized SEEG earlier this month and said it would cancel its concession, rejected the accusations.
Speaking to reporters in the capital Libreville, government spokesman AlainClaude Bilie By Nze said an environmental inspection of power and water pumping stations discovered “nearly all” SEEG sites were contaminated by petroleum waste.
“This is a very serious situation since, at this stage, aside from the obvious environmental damage, no one knows the consequences this pollution could have had or could have on public health,” he said.
He said that on top of legal penalties of up to 500 million CFA francs for each polluted site, Gabon would force SEEG to shoulder the clean-up costs.
Responding to the accusations, Veolia stated that the water it distributed continued to conform to World Health Organization standards and Gabonese regulations.