An Oxfam report confirms that Western-made weapons were used in the attacks by the Saudi-led Arab coalition. A quarter of the 1,700 attacks between January 2021 and February 2022 used exclusively weapons sold by London and Washington. 87 civilians were killed and 136 wounded. The Omani delegation tries to mediate to restore the fragile truce.
Sana’a () – A new report recently published by Oxfam activists under the title “Fueling Violence” once again confirms the widespread use of weapons and bombs sold by the United States and the United Kingdom to Riyadh, and that these are used against the civilian population in Yemen. The data collected by the NGO reports that the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia carried out hundreds of attacks with numerous civilian casualties against the Houthis, who have the support of Tehran.
Only the fragile truce signed on April 2 partially contained the spiral of violence, but it was not renewed on October 2 due to the lack of an agreement on the payment of salaries of public officials in the territories controlled by the rebels. Envoys from the UN, the United States and Oman are mediating in this agreement. Precisely in these days, a delegation from Muscat has arrived trying to re-establish the ceasefire between the parties and prevent the deaths of civilians, including minors, from multiplying.
The Oxfam report accuses London (and Washington) of fueling the “climate of violence against civilians” that has been reinstated in the Arab country with the sale and trade of arms to the Saudi-led coalition. The activists counted more than 1,700 attacks against the population between January 2021 and February 2022 – before the truce – and of these at least a quarter were carried out using only US and British-made weapons.
In the reporting period, Oxfam says the coalition was responsible for at least 87 civilian deaths and another 136 injuries. They also carried out 19 attacks on hospitals, clinics and ambulances, in addition to 293 raids that have forced the civilian population to flee their homes. “The massive number of attacks on civilians,” says Martin Butcher, Oxfam’s political consultant on arms and conflict and author of the report, “is stark testimony to the terrible tragedy that the Yemeni people have suffered and continue to suffer.” “Our analysis shows that there is a pattern of violence against civilians and that none of the parties involved in the conflict – it adds – have done enough to protect the lives of civilians”, as would be their obligation “under international and humanitarian law. “.
The conflict erupted in 2014 as an internal clash between pro-Tehran Houthi rebels and supporters of the Saudi-backed government; As the months passed, it intensified until it became an open war with the intervention of Riyadh, in March 2015, at the head of a coalition of Arab countries that has left a balance of almost 400,000 victims in recent years. According to the UN, it has caused the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world”, in which Covid-19 has had “devastating” effects. Millions of people are on the brink of starvation and children -11,000 killed in the conflict- will suffer the consequences for decades. There are more than three million internally displaced persons, most of whom live in conditions of extreme poverty, hunger and epidemics of various kinds, including cholera.
London has come under heavy criticism for continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia despite widespread concern over human rights violations. That is why the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) was born, which, in court, challenges the arms trade and tries to limit their sale. A ruling by the British Supreme Court is expected by the end of the month and another previous judicial resolution (from 2019) obtained the suspension -albeit only temporarily- of the sale of arms, which resumed in 2021. According to some estimates by CAAT experts , the real value of the trade between the parties is almost 30,000 million euros.
