Local Editor
The resolution will also focus on delivering humanitarian aid to the war-torn country following the escalation in violence after the breakdown of peace talks in August. The draft text is expected to be circulated among the council’s 15 members in coming days.
The British initiative follows one of the deadliest air strikes of the conflict by the Saudi-led coalition, which hit a funeral service in Sana’a last week, martyring over 100 people and injuring some 600 mourners.
The UK draft proposal also comes after Russia blocked a statement drafted by Britain that condemned the air strike. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said it was "wishy-washy," as he urged the UNSC members to do "some very serious thinking" on how to halt violence in Yemen, AFP quoted.
The announcement on Friday follows Human Rights Watch’s plea for the UK and the US to stop selling weapons to Riyadh in the wake of the funeral strike, which the NGO called a "war crime".
London’s call to end violence in the small Arab state also quite ironically coincided with the US military’s first direct engagement in the conflict.
Steve Topple, a UK-based political analyst told RT that UK’s policy is "contradictory" when it comes to Yemen, because on one hand London advocates peace in the country, yet at the same time London refuses to conduct an independent investigation into alleged crimes by the Saudi-led coalition which the UK supports.
"If you look at the UK record with Saudi Arabia so far during this conflict, they abandoned the plan for an international investigation into potential war crimes, leaving it for Saudi Arabia to conduct itself," the expert pointed out.
In fact before the current Conservative government of Theresa May took charge in July 2016, lawmakers of her predecessor, David Cameron, licensed £5.6 billion [$6.82bn] in sales of arms, fighter jets and other military hardware to Saudi Arabia, Campaign Against Arms Trade revealed early this year. Some £3.3 billion [$4.02bn] worth of arms was supplied by the UK to Saudi Arabia since the bombing of Yemen in March 2015. Beside Typhoon jets, UK sold Hawk fighter jets and machine guns, bombs and tear gas to the Saudis.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have shown that UK arms are being used on civilian targets in Yemen. Just last month the UK blocked a European Union drive to set up an independent international inquiry to be conducted by the UN Human Rights Council into the war in Yemen.
And while the UK’s own parliamentarian committees last month urged their government to suspend arms trade to Saudi Arabia pending an independent inquiry into alleged breaches of international law in Yemen, UK’s new Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has defended the arms trade.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
