Yemen

Lord Hannay of Chiswick Excerpts

Thursday 15th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords, it is high time this House had the opportunity to debate the dramatically appalling situation in Yemen. For that opportunity, I thank my noble friend Lord Luce.

The UK may not be directly a party to the conflict there but we are very much involved—as a supporter of Saudi Arabia, as a supplier of some of the equipment and munitions being used in the fighting, as a former colonial power of part of that country, and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, on whose agenda the question of Yemen is a constant reproach.

I have no doubt the Minister will have a good deal to say about the efforts that the Government are making to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population—the threat of mass starvation and the cholera epidemic, as others have mentioned, among the appalling woes that afflict this country—and those efforts deserve praise. They are substantial but they are both inadequate and, in some senses, broadly irrelevant as long as the underlying cause of the suffering of the people of Yemen—the war, of course—is not being effectively addressed. It is hard to say that the international community, or the British Government, as an important player in the international community, have yet found means to address those problems—the causes of war—effectively.

The Government seem quite proud of the fact that on the UN Security Council Britain is known as the penholder on the question of Yemen. In the five years that I was at the United Nations I never heard that concept referred to—it did not exist—although I drafted rather a large number of the resolutions of the Security Council. However, if the hand which holds the pen remains paralysed, as it has done for many months, what on earth is the use of it?

What are we doing in New York to inject a sense of urgency into the discussion of Yemen? I am not suggesting that we should dash down to the Security Council and seek to pass some empty words, but if we were moving more purposefully towards a new basis for seeking peace in Yemen, endorsed by the Security Council, it would get the attention of all the parties to the conflict. So I should like the Minister to tell us why this paralysis in the penhand is continuing.

The recent statements by the US Secretaries of State and Defence calling for a cessation of hostilities within 30 days and a resumption of the peace process—calls which were echoed, I am glad to say, by the Foreign Secretary—are welcome, but why do we have to wait for the Americans to say this before we let out a single cheep?

What has been the reaction of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to those calls for a resumption of the peace process? Does it really make sense, as the Secretary for Defence in the United States said, to ask one party to the dispute, the Houthis, to take the first step before the other party is asked to do anything? What consequences would there be for our relations with Saudi Arabia if it does not continue to respond positively to the US and UK calls for a ceasefire after initially doing so? I understood from the Foreign Secretary giving evidence to your Lordships’ International Relations Committee today that it has responded positively in the past few days.

Nearly two years ago, your Lordships’ International Relations Committee produced a report on the Middle East. One of our findings was that we needed to be prepared to take rather more robust action in our relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is the relationship of a friend and ally, if we were to get its attention. We do not suggest, as many have done, the absolute cessation of all military supplies to Saudi Arabia. That would be a huge step. It may be necessary but, as I say, it would be a huge step. We suggested that the Government should be prepared to warn Saudi Arabia that if the weapons that we provide are misused or are used in attacks on civilians, there would have to be suspensions of some of our supplies. I really think we have been a little inert in all of this.

Of course, other outside powers are involved, as well as Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, most obviously Iran, with whom our US allies have no contact at all and against whom they have just stepped up their unilateral economic sanctions. But we speak to and have diplomatic relations with Iran and we are not, quite rightly, applying those sanctions. We therefore have a good basis on which to have a dialogue. Last week, the Iranian deputy Foreign Minister and the senior Iranian official who handles relations with Yemen were in London. How did they respond to the calls for a cessation of hostilities? What transpired from their contacts with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, if indeed they took place? Can the Minister say something about that? I wonder whether they, too, would be prepared to advise their Yemeni partners and allies, the Yemeni Houthis, to come to the conference table and to respond positively to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General’s representative, Martin Griffiths? That will be an important factor in this rather complex situation.

There are more questions than answers in what all those who have participated in this short debate have said, and I hope that the Minister will be able to reply to at least some of them. What we cannot afford to do any longer is to stand by and wring our hands as things go from bad to worse.