Yemen

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Thursday 15th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB)]

My Lords, my noble friend has long personal memories not only of Aden but of the Gulf and Sudan. We are extremely fortunate that he has opened this debate. Yemen has been relatively unknown here since the 1960s and, until the recent Commons debate, has had barely any attention in Parliament. I would also like to declare a family interest. My wife is a specialist on the Middle East and has given me advice on the position of different parties to the conflict.

I join this debate mainly because I am concerned at the acute humanitarian consequences. Who would not be? The Yemen war is one of the most pressing issues today. This is also a debate about Saudi Arabia, and some understanding of the present political confusion in that country is essential. As has been said, the uncertainty comes mainly from the erratic behaviour of the Crown Prince, who is the effective ruler. This man has promised reform, and there have indeed been a number of recognised changes, including benefits for women and the defanging of the religious police. But, as my noble friend said, the negatives far outweigh these: his early power-grabbing and the ill-treatment of many senior Saudis, including law-abiding women activists; his absurd decision last August to recall 8,000 Saudi students from Canada, expel the Canadian ambassador and cut economic ties, all because of tweets from Ottawa in Arabic about Saudi violations of human rights; the kidnapping and forced resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri last year; and the ramping up of the disagreement with Qatar into a regional crisis. Meanwhile, dozens of Saudi men and women are held without trial.

As a result, the Saudi king had already reasserted his authority, even before the appalling and still unexplained murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, an event that has rightly focused world attention on Saudi Arabia. But whether the king has given any hint of a change of policy, domestically or on the war in Yemen, remains to be seen; perhaps the Minister knows—certainly a lot of people are betting on it in relation to the war.

We are told by analysts that peace talks this time really do mean peace talks, and that Saudi Arabia is now confronting a serious deadline offered by the US and the international community. Jeremy Hunt’s famous “window” is presumably based on the premise that the royal family is now so divided by the Khashoggi affair, on top of the turmoil created by his son, that they will have to rethink their position on the war, as on most other things. I hope he is right.

One critical question is whether there is any justification for the latest advance on Hodeidah. My noble friend Lord Slim, with his considerable military experience, says that if Hodeidah was going to be taken it should have been taken months ago. The Saudi-led coalition may still believe that the end will justify the means, but the military argument falls away now we know that the advance has taken so many months, at such cost and without result. This war will not be over soon. It could drag on for years under present conditions, and once resolved, civil wars take a very long time to heal.

Meanwhile, what about the effect on civilians? The evidence is overwhelming that air strikes have had a major impact on civilians. On 9 August, there was an appalling air strike on a bus in Sa’ada, killing at least 29, possibly 40, children. The Saudi coalition, having first said that the air strike was militarily legitimate, later admitted to the Joint Incidents Assessment Team that it was unjustifiable. That is only one of many examples. On 23 August, another 22 children died escaping from Hodeidah. According to the Yemen Data Project, almost one in three air raids have been against non-military targets, and we must not forget that the Houthis are responding with Iranian SAMs and other missiles—this was part of the evidence given to the International Development Select Committee last month. In the past fortnight, over 100 people have been killed in Hodeidah. Thousands of people are currently cut off from supplies and medical aid. A government aid worker here tells me that the bigger push on Hodeidah is just making the risk of famine greater. The noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, has already laid out the UN statistics. Altogether there are 22 million in need, 2 million pregnant women and young mothers acutely malnourished, and almost half the health facilities no longer function.

How much hangs on the special envoy? I remember Martin Griffiths from his time as overseas director at Save the Children. In fact, I travelled with him to the Far East. He is a man who likes to get things done, and I would be surprised if this situation fazed him, although it must be one of the most intractable he has ever faced. However, it seems that, without the Houthis at the table, his mission is permanently delayed. He is due to report to the Security Council.

The UK has a special responsibility in this war, and I know that the FCO has pulled the stops out in supporting the peace process up to now. I also recognise that the UK has been a generous donor, as indeed has Saudi Arabia, as one would expect. However, as the UN’s Mark Lowcock pointed out on 30 October, Yemen is on the verge of a serious catastrophe and no one can deny that. As the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, said, we should be making more of an effort. A group of diplomats and experts has written to the Foreign Secretary as follows:

“We urge HMG to … consider where Yemen’s calamity is leading—a crippled economy, destitution, political instability and terrorism … The lack of governance and rampant corruption that have bedevilled Yemen … have been major drivers of the resentments fuelling this war”.


Can the Minister anticipate the Foreign Office reply, because the situation is already critical? The noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, put a lot of questions to the Minister, which I fully support.