British MPs Urge Immediate Halt of the Kingdom’s Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

Local Editor

An all-party group of British MPs called for immediate suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and an international independent inquiry into the kingdom's military campaign in Yemen.

The call from the international development select committee followed evidence from aid agencies to MPs warning that Saudi Arabia was involved in indiscriminate bombing of its neighbor, Yemen.

Under the war on Yemen, the UK is reaping what it has sown over decades in the arms trade with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

Relatively, the committee reported that the British government supplied export licenses for close to £3bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia in the last year, and has also been accused of being involved in the conduct and administration of the Saudi aggression against Yemen.

In the same context, a leaked UN report last week said Saudi Arabia was involved in breaches of humanitarian law.

For that reason, Amnesty International UK's arms control director, Oliver Sprague, said: "It's shocking that the UK continued to sell billions of pounds' worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia even as the civilian casualties mounted in Yemen."

In addition, Andrew Smith of the Campaign Against Arms Trade stated: "The humanitarian situation is getting worse and the UK government has been complicit in it. We agree that arms sales need to stop, but they should never have been allowed in the first place."

The committee further mentioned that it heard reliable evidence from humanitarian organizations including the head of UNICEF Yemen that the Saudi-led coalition was involved in actions that risked civilian deaths and breached humanitarian law.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team