Theresa May, help end Yemen’s agony – stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia
When Theresa May touched down in Riyadh yesterday morning, she did so with a combination of the usual kind words about her hosts and a specific promise to raise the issue of the devastating blockade that the Saudi regime has inflicted on Yemen.
The last three weeks have seen a Saudi-imposed military blockade on Yemeni ports, which has stopped vital humanitarian aid from getting to the millions of people that need it. The situation is dire, with research from Save the Children finding that 130 Yemeni children are dying every day from malnutrition, extreme hunger or disease.
It is a measure of how terrible things have become that even the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has called it “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. However, despite their concerns, it is a crisis in which May, Johnson and their cabinet colleagues have been utterly complicit.
As soon as the Saudi-led bombing campaign began almost three years ago, the then foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, pledged that the UK would support it “in every practical way, short of engaging in combat”. Despite a change in personnel in Westminster, it is a promise that has been kept.
Since then, the UK has licensed over £4.6bn-worth of fighter jets, bombs and missiles to Saudi forces. These include Eurofighter Typhoon jets, which are playing a central role in the bombardment, and Paveway IV bombs, which are being dropped from the sky by UK-trained pilots.
There is no doubt that these arms have been used against civilian targets. Reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have linked UK bombs to attacks on civilian infrastructure, while a UN expert panel has accused the Saudi military of “widespread and systematic” violations of international humanitarian law.
Despite the mounting death toll and the growing evidence of abuses, the arms sales have continued. In fact, despite their professed concerns for the people of Yemen, the government’s priorities couldn’t have been clearer.
Last October, a Saudi missile attack killed 140 people at a funeral in Yemen, turning a scene of mourning into a massacre. Not a single arms licence was suspended. Only six weeks later, May visited the Gulf Cooperation Council with a commitment to “go even further” in working with Saudi and the other dictatorships that are taking part in the bombing.
This September, even as the worst cholera outbreak on record was sweeping through Yemen, UK government ministers and civil servants were rolling out the red carpet and welcoming the Saudi military to London to buy weapons at the Defence amp; Security International (DSEI) arms fair.
Only last month the then-defence secretary, Michael Fallon, went as far as to urge other MPs not to criticise Saudi Arabia in case it undermined or jeopardised negotiations to sell more fighter jets.
These certainly aren’t the actions of a government that is doing all it can to help people in Yemen. They also imply that even as Yemeni people are starving, there is little doubt that arms sales will be on the
agenda.
Of course, the issue is bigger than the individual choices of Theresa May. For decades now, governments of all political colours have offered an uncritical political and military support to the Saudi royal family. That may be one reason that May’s government has acted so hypocritically and shamefully. But it’s certainly not a justification.
There is no doubt where public opinion stands. Poll after poll has shown an overwhelming majority of Britons oppose these arms sales. Over the last few years this opposition has started to be reflected in parliament, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and the Greens all sharing a commitment to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
After almost 1,000 days of bombardment and pain, a peaceful solution is needed more than ever for Yemen. Will Theresa May show the leadership required to break with the past and end the arms sales? If not, then what more would it take? History will look back on these atrocities as totally preventable. How many more will need to die before May and her colleagues finally stop putting arms company profits ahead of Yemeni lives?
• Andrew Smith is a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)