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Yemen's Prime Minister accuses UK of war crimes | Yemen's Prime Minister accuses UK of war crimes |
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The new Prime Minister of the rebel Houthi government in Yemen has accused the UK of war crimes. | The new Prime Minister of the rebel Houthi government in Yemen has accused the UK of war crimes. |
It comes amid reported discoveries of Britain-made weapons in bombed parts of the country. | |
Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtour claimed the UK Government cared more about making profits from arms sales than the humanitarian crisis enveloping his country. | Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtour claimed the UK Government cared more about making profits from arms sales than the humanitarian crisis enveloping his country. |
Mr Habtour told Sky News: “They have sold cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. They know the Saudis are going to drop them on Yemen [...] in Saadah and in Sana'a and other provinces. | |
"I don't think they are guilty of war crimes, I believe so. They are participating in the bombing of Yemen people." | "I don't think they are guilty of war crimes, I believe so. They are participating in the bombing of Yemen people." |
Sky reported that a soldier had told them the army had found a number of UK-made cluster bombs and showed photos of British cluster bombs he said had been found in fields in the city, which have been shared widely locally. | |
A resident of Sa'adah, a city located on the border of Saudi Arabia which has seen some of the worst bombing of the civil war, was also recorded saying: “First we thought Britain was a first, but now we feel the British Government are criminals, because of what’s happening here. | |
“They’re committing crime: killing children and pregnant women.” | “They’re committing crime: killing children and pregnant women.” |
Britain agreed to stop using and selling cluster bombs around six years ago, and in June Defence Secretary Michael Fallon denied that any UK-supplied cluster munitions had been used in the current conflict. | |
Nearly two years of war between a Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Iran-allied Houthi movement has worsened the plight of millions of Yemenis. | |
Even before the start of the conflict in March 2015, Yemen was suffering a humanitarian crisis, including widespread hunger that was brought on by decades of poverty and internal strife. | |
Around half of Yemen's 28 million people are “food insecure”, according to the United Nations, and seven million of them do not know where they will get their next meal. | |
In total more than 10,000 people are reported to have been killed and nearly 37,000 wounded during the Yemeni civil war. |