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MPs split over suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia
MPs split over UK-Saudi arms sales amid bid to water down report
(about 14 hours later)
MPs on the UK’s influential cross-party committee on arms export controls have met to discuss whether to call for a suspension of arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid attempts by some to press for amendments to water down any criticism.
MPs on Britain’s influential committee on arms export controls are divided over plans that would recommend suspending UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia over alleged breaches of international law in Yemen.
The draft committee report said it seemed inevitable that breaches of international law by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen had involved arms supplied by the UK, and that this would mean Britain was in violation of its own legal obligations.
A concerted attempt has been mounted to water down a draft report that said it seemed inevitable that the alleged breaches by the Saudi-led coalition had involved arms supplied by the UK, and that this would mean Britain was in violation of its legal obligations.
In a written statement earlier this week, the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, sought to pre-empt the committee by asserting the UK would continue to export weapons to Saudi Arabia, claiming the “key test” of a serious risk of breach of international humanitarian law had not been met.
The draft had said: “The weight of evidence of violations of international humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition is now so great, that it is very difficult to continue to support Saudi Arabia.”
The draft report says: “The weight of evidence of violations of international humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition is now so great that it is very difficult to continue to support Saudi Arabia.”
But the staunchly pro-defence Labour MP John Spellar, with support from some Conservative committee members including the chair of the foreign affairs select committee Crispin Blunt, has tabled more than 130 amendments to change the report, including removing the call for a suspension of arms sales. Details of the report first leaked on the BBC’s Newsnight.
However, on Wednesday a concerted attempt was underway to water down plans to recommend UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia be suspended.
The number of amendments underlines the sensitivity of the issue of UK-Saudi relations at Westminster, the importance of the Gulf to the UK defence industry and the concern that Britain, for a variety of security reasons, is too ready to take Saudi assurances about how it is conducting a difficult civil war in Yemen.
The staunchly pro-defence Labour MP John Spellar – with support from some Conservative committee members, including the chair of the foreign affairs select committee Crispin Blunt – tabled more than 130 amendments to change the report, including removing the call for a suspension of arms sales.
In a written statement earlier this week, the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, sought to preempt the committee by asserting the UK would continue to export weapons to Saudi Arabia, claiming the “key test” of a serious risk of breach of international humanitarian law had not been met.
The number of amendments underlines the sensitivity of the issue of UK Saudi relations at Westminster, the importance of the Gulf to the UK defence industry and the concern that Britain, for a variety of security reasons, is too ready to take Saudi assurances about how it is conducting a difficult civil war in Yemen.
Amendments to the draft report tabled on Wednesday by Chris White, the Conservative chair of the committee, proposed condemning the government for “its failure to be clear about the basis [on which] it had come to the view that Saudi [Arabia] had not been in breach of international humanitarian law”.
On Wednesday the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, defended his country’s conduct in the war in Yemen, denying the coalition ever intended to hit hospitals. “What interest do we have in killing Yemeni children?” he said.
He pointed out that the government had abandoned its previous assurance that there had been no breach into a more general reassurance that there was no serious risk of a breach.
But, at a lengthy private session with MPs, he admitted that Riyadh had been “behind the eight ball” in defending its role in Yemen. Jubeir also insisted the Saudis did not have the equipment to launch the kind of cluster munitions which human rights groups say have been found in Yemen.
White argued that corrections made just before the summer recess were “significant changes” to earlier evidence from ministers and suggested that government assessments had not taken place despite assurances. He said: “These changes … damage confidence in cross-Whitehall cooperation and competence.”
He also promised that further internal reports would be published on individual allegations that coalition forces had bombed inappropriate targets such as schools hospitals or civilian areas. He insisted the Iranian-backed Houthis had “[bombed] hospitals and schools as weapons depots”.
The White amendment reads: “The corrections suggest that the assessments the government told us it conducts into evidence of breaches of international humanitarian law set out in detail by Philip Dunne [the then minister for procurement] have not in fact taken place”. It amounts to an allegation that the defence minister unintentionally or otherwise misled the committee.
The outcome of Wednesday’s vote will largely depend on who turns up at the meeting and whether a form of wording can be found to keep all sides on board. At least one Labour MP is sceptical of the case for an arms ban, but equally a Conservative MP on the committee, Helen Grant, has been angered by the evidence of the Saudi-led coalition bombing hospitals and a residential complex.
White also suggested that there was a conflict between the findings of the Saudi-led inquiry and reports by the UN high commissioner for human rights.
The government has argued that it operates one of the strictest arms licensing programmes in the world, and said it had received assurances from Riyadh that it operated within the boundaries of international humanitarian law.
On Wednesday, the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, defended his country’s conduct in Yemen, denying the coalition ever intended to hit hospitals. “What interest do we have in killing Yemeni children?” he said.
A report from an internal Saudi investigation of eight incidents in Yemen was published on 4 August and largely defended the bombing runs on the basis that the Saudis had received credible intelligence that enemy Houthi forces were in the area. In one case Riyadh offered compensation to the victims.
But, at a lengthy private session with MPs, he admitted that Riyadh had been “behind the eight ball” in defending its role in Yemen. Jubeir also insisted the Saudis did not have the equipment to launch the kind of cluster munitions human rights groups say have been found in Yemen.
Following the report’s publication, airstrikes on 15 August killed 19 people and injured 24 when a raid hit a Yemeni hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières. It was the fourth attack on an MSF facility in Yemen in a year, and led to the MSF withdrawing from parts of Yemen. MSF said it had shared the hospital’s GPS coordinates with all parties involved in the conflict.
He also promised that further internal reports would be published on individual allegations that coalition forces had bombed inappropriate targets such as schools, hospitals or civilian areas. He insisted the Iranian-backed Houthis had used hospitals and schools as weapons depots.
UK government ministers have said the Saudis are learning how to conduct inquiries into bombing missions in which mistakes occurred, and there is no evidence of a deliberate effort to bomb civilians indiscriminately.
A report from an internal Saudi investigation into eight incidents in Yemen was published on 4 August, largely defending the bombings on the basis that the Saudis had received credible intelligence that Houthi forces were in the area. In one case, Riyadh offered compensation to the victims.
But Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “When even the Saudis are investigating their own military actions, it is about time the arms control select committee put some backbone into our government and demanded a halt to arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
“With mounting evidence of widespread breaches of international humanitarian law, the UK is turning a blind eye at the peril of its international reputation as an upholder of human rights.”
The UN has criticised the Saudi-led coalition for strikes on weddings, markets, schools and hospitals that did not appear to qualify as military targets.
The UN has criticised the Saudi-led coalition for strikes on weddings, markets, schools and hospitals that did not appear to qualify as military targets.
Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia, backed by its Sunni Arab allies, the US and Britain, has been launching airstrikes in Yemen, its neighbour, to reinstate the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and counter advances by Houthi rebels. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia, backed by its Sunni Arab allies, the US and Britain, has been launching airstrikes in Yemen, its neighbour, to reinstate the president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and counter advances by Houthi rebels. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.
Houthi fighters, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam, control the capital, Sana’a, and the western part of Yemen, and are allied with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who led the country from 1990 to 2012.
Houthi fighters, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam, control the capital, Sana’a, and the western part of Yemen, and are allied with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who led the country from 1990 to 2012.
Hadi is currently living in exile in Riyadh, and the Saudis regard the Houthis as proxies for Iran. Peace talks sponsored by Kuwait broke down in August.
Hadi is living in exile in Riyadh, and the Saudis regard the Houthis as proxies for Iran. Peace talks sponsored by Kuwait broke down in August.
At a session at the Chatham House thinktank, Jubeir claimed that the Iranians were spreading regional instability and Tehran would have to decide if it wanted to behave as a revolution or a nation state. “Iran assassinates diplomats, blows up embassies, smuggles weapons into neighbouring countries and supports terrorists,” he said.
Although the Saudi intervention in Yemen is seen as a shift to a more interventionist policy, the Saudi minister said it was also a response to demands to be more active in the region. “You can’t criticise us for not stepping up and then criticise us when we take action,” he said. “At present we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”
