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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 9 OctOber 2020

In this Sept. 29, 2018 file photo, a cargo ship is docked at the
port, in Hodeida, Yemen.
Associated Press
U.N. envoy condemns This file photo combo shows the candidates for the WTO Director-General selection process at
the headquarters of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland, pictured from
deadly clashes in Wednesday to Friday, July 15 - 17, 2020, Yoo Myung-hee, of Korea, left and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
of Nigeria.
Associated Press
Yemen's key port city
World Trade Organization to be led by a

CAIRO (AP) — A top U.N. of- the Stockholm agreement,"
ficial Thursday condemned he said. woman for first time
recent clashes in Yemen's In 2018, heavy fighting
strategic port city of Hodei- erupted in Hodeida after
da, which have left dozens government forces backed By JAMEY KEATEN expected to be announced no later than
killed and wounded, urging by a Saudi-led coalition Associated Press early November.
the country's warring par- moved in to wrest control GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organi- The previous WTO director-general, Rober-
ties to immediately stop the of the strategic city from zation announced Thursday that South Ko- to Azevedo of Brazil, made a surprise an-
fighting. the Houthis. rea's trade minister and a Harvard-trained nouncement in May that he would leave
Since Saturday, clashes After month of clashes, the former Nigerian finance minister have the job a year early, citing a "personal de-
have flared up between warring sides signed a U.N.- qualified as the two finalists to become the cision." He left without a successor on Aug.
Yemen's Houthi rebels and brokered agreement in next director-general, ensuring a woman 31.
government forces south of Sweden in December 2018 in the top job for the first time. Azevedo's seven-year tenure was marked
the port in Hodeida, which that included a cease- A selection committee said that Ngozi by intense pressure from U.S. President
handles about 70% of Ye- fire in the port city and an Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Yoo Myung- Donald Trump, who repeatedly accused
men's commercial and hu- exchange of more than hee of South Korea qualified for the final the WTO of "unfair" treatment of the U.S.
manitarian imports. Yemeni 15,000 prisoners. The deal, round in a race expected to end in the and started a trade war with China in
officials said Wednesday seen as an important first coming weeks. They were picked out of a defiance of the WTO system. In the past,
the death toll had reached step toward ending the pool of five candidates. Trump has threatened to pull the United
52 and that around 70 peo- conflict, was never fully im- "Both of the women that are in the fi- States out of the trade body altogether.
ple were wounded, includ- plemented. nal round are remarkably well qualified. The WTO's dispute settlement system is per-
ing two dozen civilians. On Monday, the U.N. mis- This is something on which everyone has haps the world's best-known venue for re-
"This military escalation not sion to Yemen called for an agreed," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell solving international trade disputes - such
only constitutes a violation immediate halt of violence told reporters. "We've been impressed with as those pitting plane-makers Boeing and
of the Hodeida cease- in order "not to put the pop- them from the very beginning." Airbus in recent decades. But the United
fire agreement but it runs ulation at further risk and The Geneva-based WTO's General Coun- States has clogged up the dispute settle-
against the spirit of the on- jeopardize the delivery of cil, made up of envoys from the 164-mem- ment machinery by blocking any new
going UN-facilitated nego- humanitarian assistance." ber body, eliminated Amina Mohamed, a members for its highest court, the Appel-
tiations that aim to achieve The conflict in Yemen be- former trade minister from Kenya; Moham- late Body, which has unable to address
a nationwide ceasefire, gan with the 2014 takeover mad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri, a Saudi former new disputes since last year.
humanitarian and eco- of the capital Sanaa by the economy minister, and British former Inter- The next director-general will face the
nomic measures and the Iranian-backed Houthis. A national Trade Secretary and Brexit propo- daunting task of keeping the United States
resumption of the political Saudi-led coalition allied nent Liam Fox. on board if Trump wins a second term,
process," said U.N. Special with the government has "Deeply grateful and honored to be se- amid Washington's allegations that China
Envoy for Yemen Martin been fighting the Houthis lected for the final round in the selection is engaged in unfair practices such as ex-
Griffiths in a statement. since March 2015. process of the next @WTO Director Gen- cessively subsidizing industries and steal-
Griffiths said he is following The war in Yemen has eral!" tweeted Yoo, who has a law degree ing intellectual property — notably at the
with "deep concern" re- spawned the world's worst from Vanderbilt University. "We need a expense of Western businesses hoping to
ports of civilian casualties, humanitarian crisis, leaving capable & experienced new leader who tap the expanding Chinese market. China
including women and chil- millions suffering from food can rebuild trust and restore relevance of rejects the allegations.
dren. and medical shortages. the @WTO. I look forward to your contin- The WTO, which was created in 1995 out
¨I have been engaging It has killed over 112,000 ued support! Thank you!!!" of the former General Agreement on Tar-
with all sides. I call on them people, including fighters Okonjo-Iweala on Twitter thanked WTO iffs and Trade, has never had a woman
to immediately stop the and civilians, according to members for their support and wrote that director-general or national from Africa as
fighting, respect the com- a database project that she was "happy to be in the final round." its leader. It operates by consensus, mean-
mitments they made under tracks violence.q A previous round had cut the list of can- ing that any single member country can
didates from eight to five. The winner is block decisions.q