Local Editor
The use of British weaponry by Saudi Arabia and its allies in the conflict in Yemen is to be investigated by a Parliamentary committee following growing complaints that the UK’s burgeoning arms exports to countries involved in the war are escaping scrutiny.
Nearly £3bn of British-made military equipment, including £1bn of bombs, rockets and missiles, has been authorized for export to Saudi Arabia since the oil-rich kingdom and its allies began an intervention in Yemen a year ago which has seen multiple claims of human rights violations during air strikes.
Saudi Arabia is Britain’s biggest arms customer and it is widely claimed that UK-supplied weaponry, including Tornado and Typhoon jets as well as Paveway precision bombs, has been deployed in the campaign against Houthi forces. Some 6,000 civilians have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations.
Britain has come under increasing pressure from international bodies, including the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the European Parliament, to halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia because of the conflict. A separate committee of MPs found last month that there was "overwhelming" evidence of breaches of humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
But despite calls from campaigners and MPs for the use of British weaponry in Yemen, in particular in connection with alleged breaches of the laws of war, to be investigated, the Parliamentary committee set up to monitor Britain’s £12bn arms export industry had not met for nine months since the beginning of the air strikes. A protracted delay in appointing new chairman of the committee following the retirement of his predecessor was blamed.
Critics warned that the hiatus has allowed the Government to dramatically increase arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries without independent oversight. In the third quarter of 2015, export licenses to Saudi Arabia worth £1bn alone were approved compared to £9m in the same period for the previous year. The deals reportedly included precision Paveway IV bombs manufactured in Britain, which had been originally earmarked for delivery to the RAF but were instead diverted to Saudi Arabia as it urgently sought to replenish stocks.
On 10 March the Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC), which was finally re-formed last month and is made up of members of four other influential select committees, announced a wide-ranging investigation into the use of UK weaponry in Yemen, including whether the Government is adhering to its own criteria in granting arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia and other countries involved in the conflict, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
Sources: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
