Foreign secretary says breaches of international law during Yemen airstrikes were not proven, as MPs prepare to call for ban on UK exports
‘); hiddenDoc.close(); })(); {“uid”:2,”hostPeerName”:”https://www.theguardian.com”,”initialGeometry”:”{\”windowCoords_t\”:77,\”windowCoords_r\”:1936,\”windowCoords_b\”:979,\”windowCoords_l\”:0,\”frameCoords_t\”:2424.8800048828125,\”frameCoords_r\”:1184,\”frameCoords_b\”:2674.8800048828125,\”frameCoords_l\”:884,\”styleZIndex\”:\”auto\”,\”allowedExpansion_t\”:697.8800048828125,\”allowedExpansion_r\”:724,\”allowedExpansion_b\”:15.1199951171875,\”allowedExpansion_l\”:884,\”xInView\”:1,\”yInView\”:1}”,”permissions”:”{\”expandByOverlay\”:true,\”expandByPush\”:false,\”readCookie\”:false,\”writeCookie\”:false}”,”metadata”:”{\”shared\”:{\”sf_ver\”:\”1-0-4\”,\”ck_on\”:1,\”flash_ver\”:\”22.0.0\”}}”,”reportCreativeGeometry”:false,”isDifferentSourceWindow”:false}” width=”300″ height=”250″ title=”3rd party ad content” id=”google_ads_iframe_/59666047/theguardian.com/politics/article/ng_2″ src=”https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-4/html/container.html#xpc=sf-gdn-exp-2&p=https%3A//www.theguardian.com” frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” style=”border: 0px; border-image: none; vertical-align: bottom;” data-is-safeframe=”true”>
{“uid”:2,”hostPeerName”:”https://www.theguardian.com”,”initialGeometry”:”{\”windowCoords_t\”:77,\”windowCoords_r\”:1936,\”windowCoords_b\”:979,\”windowCoords_l\”:0,\”frameCoords_t\”:2424.8800048828125,\”frameCoords_r\”:1184,\”frameCoords_b\”:2674.8800048828125,\”frameCoords_l\”:884,\”styleZIndex\”:\”auto\”,\”allowedExpansion_t\”:697.8800048828125,\”allowedExpansion_r\”:724,\”allowedExpansion_b\”:15.1199951171875,\”allowedExpansion_l\”:884,\”xInView\”:1,\”yInView\”:1}”,”permissions”:”{\”expandByOverlay\”:true,\”expandByPush\”:false,\”readCookie\”:false,\”writeCookie\”:false}”,”metadata”:”{\”shared\”:{\”sf_ver\”:\”1-0-4\”,\”ck_on\”:1,\”flash_ver\”:\”22.0.0\”}}”,”reportCreativeGeometry”:false,”isDifferentSourceWindow”:false}” width=”300″ height=”250″ title=”3rd party ad content” id=”google_ads_iframe_/59666047/theguardian.com/politics/article/ng_2″ src=”https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-4/html/container.html#xpc=sf-gdn-exp-2&p=https%3A//www.theguardian.com” frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” style=”border: 0px; border-image: none; vertical-align: bottom;” data-is-safeframe=”true”>It rejected a claim submitted by MSF regarding airstrikes on the organisation’s Haydan hospital in the area of Saada. However, the latest incidents and the Saudi-led coalition’s rejection of wrongdoing is likely to strengthen the case for the suspension of arms sales.
In a series of written corrections made on 21 July, the last day of parliament, the Foreign Office withdrew previous claims that the UK judged that no breaches of humanitarian law had occurred, stating instead: “We have been unable to assess whether there is a breach of international humanitarian law.”
The Ministry of Defence also revised its position, stating it had “not been able to assess whether the Saudis were targeting civilians”. MoD advisers have been providing logistical support to the Saudi-led bombing campaign.
The government said the changes did not represent a change in policy but had been made to ensure consistency in ministerial responses to parliament.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, an SNP MP, has written to the Speaker of the House of Commons calling for Johnson to appear as soon as possible after recess so “he can answer for his department’s misleading claims”.
The chair of the international development select committee, Stephen Twigg, has written to Johnson asking for an explanation for the previous false assurances, partly made in evidence to his own committee’s inquiry into Yemen.
Twigg wrote on 25 July that the significant corrections made by the government in the previous week “call into question the depth of the UK government’s specific assessments of Saudi operations or of the evidence heard by my committee on alleged violations of international humanitarian law”.
The confusion has been deepened by a letter sent to the committee on arms exports controls by the Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood on 20 July, stating that the government did not believe a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL) had occurred.
His conclusion, he wrote, was based on considered analysis by the MoD of all incidents that came to its attention of alleged IHL violations by the coalition in Yemen; understanding and knowledge of Saudi Arabian army processes and procedures, ongoing engagement with the army; and post-incident dialogue.
The international development select committee’s report called for an independent inquiry into the Saudi bombing campaign, but did not recommend a ban on UK arms exports to Saudi. The Tory majority voted instead to refer the issue to the committee on arms exports controls.
Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia, backed by its Sunni Arab allies, the US and Britain, have been launching airstrikes in neighbouring Yemen to reinstate the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and counter advances by Houthi rebels.
Houthi fighters, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam, control the capital, Sana’a, and the western part of Yemen, and are allied with the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who led the country from 1990 to 2012. Hadi is currently living in exile in Riyadh, and the Saudis regard the Houthis as proxies for Iran. Peace talks sponsored by Kuwait broke down in August.
