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UK FM Boris Johnson committing mass Yemen war crimes - backing £4.3bn Saudi arms sales

204 views · Published 4 October 2017 · 5:55 · Indexed 28 October 2026

Channel: Public Enquiry · 2017 · News & Politics

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Save the children slams UK arms sales to Saudi

PressTV News Videos Published on 4 Oct 2017

While Britain says it continues to send humanitarian aid to Yemen, Save the Children has accused London of exporting fear to children who remain under constant Saudi airstrikes.
The London-based NGO criticized the government for arming and supporting countries in a conflict that is QUOTE killing, maiming and starving children. Meanwhile, Britain's Shadow International Development Secretary said the N-G-O’s report highlighted the QUOTE sheer hypocrisy of delivering aid to Yemen while British-made bombs rain down. The U-K has earned at least 4 point 24 billion U-S dollars from selling missiles and equipment to Saudi Arabia and its allies which are involved in the Yemen war. British arms are said to have been used in bombing civilian targets and vital infrastructure, impeding aid access and worsening a cholera epidemic. Nearly 13-thousand people have been killed since Riyadh launched its deadly offensive on its neighbor in early 20-15.

Boris Johnson urged UK to continue Saudi arms sales after funeral bombing
Letters between foreign secretary and Liam Fox reveal UK weapons exports were under review following the bombing of a funeral in Yemen
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/10/boris-johnson-urged-uk-to-continue-saudi-arms-sales-after-funeral-bombing
Alice Ross
Friday 10 February 2017 19.18 GMT First published on Friday 10 February 2017 13.13 GMT
Boris Johnson pressed Liam Fox to continue exports of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the bombing of a funeral in Yemen last October that killed more than 140 people and was condemned by UN monitors.

Correspondence between the ministers shows that a month after the strike, Johnson, the foreign secretary, wrote: “I am aware you have deferred a decision on four export licence applications to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force with equipment which could be used in the conflict in Yemen.”

In the letter dated 8 November, Johnson advised the trade secretary it was right to proceed with the arms sales. “The issue is extremely finely balanced, but I judge at present that the Saudis appear committed both to improving processes and to taking action to address failures/individual incidents,” he said.

 A letter from Boris Johnson to Liam Fox abut Saudi Arabia export licensing.
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 A letter from Boris Johnson to Liam Fox abut Saudi Arabia export licensing. Photograph: Department for International Trade
The foreign secretary added that the Saudis had given the UK commitments in the aftermath of the airstrike on the funeral in Sana’a that meant “the ‘clear risk’ threshold for refusal … has not yet been reached”.


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Fox then recommended that the licences be approved in the light of the assessment provided by the foreign secretary, but in his reply dated 17 November added that the situation remained risky and that he “must insist” on regular updates on the situation in Yemen.

The trade secretary wrote to Johnson: “I agree that this is an extremely complex situation and that the issue of clear risk is extremely finely balanced. In the light of your assessment and [REDACTED] recent advice I accept that we should continue, for the present, to assess export licences for Saudi Arabia on a case-by-case basis.”

But he added: “In doing so I want to be very clear with you about the risks inherent in making this decision, not just because of the grave situation in Yemen.”

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