Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Thursday that he has "full confidence" in George Abu al-Zulof, and called upon the former regime's officials “to reconsider their position on his expulsion.”

The UN chief further noted that loyalists of Yemen's Saudi-backed former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, are "impeding the United Nations human rights work."

The people of Yemen have suffered "grave human rights violations" and the UN rights office is "actively and effectively helping to document these violations," Ban said, adding that he was extremely concerned about the safety of the remaining UN national and international staffers in Yemen.

Earlier on Thursday, former Yemeni regime officials accused Zulof of lacking impartiality in his assessments of the human rights situation in Yemen, and declared him persona non grata.

New report on Saudi cluster bombs

The decision came just two days after the UN raised alarm over the use of internationally banned cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

It said that UN staff in Yemen had found remnants of 29 cluster bombs during a field visit to Harad district in the northwestern province of Hajjah, located approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) northwest of the capital, Sana’a. Three civilians including a child have been killed by shelling from Yemen in a border region of Saudi Arabia, official media said on Friday.

Several shells from Yemeni territory landed in the Jazan region on Thursday evening, the Saudi Press Agency said, citing the civil defence agency; Press TV reported.
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