FB Marketplace

[webfact]

Britain pushes for U.N. Security Council action on Yemen crisis

 

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt arrives in Downing Street, London, September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said on Monday he would push for new action at the United Nations Security Council to try to end hostilities in Yemen and find a political solution to the war there.

 

Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is locked in a nearly four-year-old war that pits Iran-aligned Houthi rebels against the government backed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the West. The conflict has killed at least 10,000 people and caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

 

Hunt had agreed with UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths that the time was right for the Security Council to act to bolster the UN-led process, the Foreign Office said in a statement, without specifying exactly what action Britain would take.

 

"The action the UK takes forward at the UN Security Council will help towards that goal, ensuring that a full ceasefire, when it comes, is fully implemented," the statement said.

 

U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Britain was working with the United States on a draft resolution to stop the fighting in Yemen. This follows U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's call last week for a cessation of hostilities n Yemen.

 

Britain said a ceasefire would only have an effect on the ground if it was underpinned by a political deal between the warring parties

Griffiths is trying to salvage peace talks that collapsed in September. He said last week he hoped consultations could restart within a month.

 

He is due to brief the Security Council on Nov. 16.

 

The United States and Britain have called for an end to the conflict, raising pressure on Saudi Arabia as it faces a global outcry over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

 

Hunt echoed U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Friday appealed for an end to the war and said recent political developments had created signs of hope for a settlement.

 

"Now for the first time there appears to be a window in which both sides can be encouraged to come to the table, stop the killing and find a political solution that is the only long term way out of disaster," Hunt said.

 

"The UK will use all its influence to push for such an approach."

 

(Reporting by William James in London and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-05

[Krataiboy]

"The UK will use all its influence. . . "

 

Halting covert arms sales to the Saudi butchers would be a good start, Jeremy.

 

"Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of British-made missiles and bombs have been sold to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen under an opaque licensing system that makes tracking arms sales more difficult". - Guardian, June 23.

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

"The UK will use all its influence to push for such an approach."

Good luck with convincing Trump.

Making money selling weapons to aid Saudi Arabia's attacks in Yemen is according to Trump a very good approach.

[Morch]

40 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Good luck with convincing Trump.

Making money selling weapons to aid Saudi Arabia's attacks in Yemen is according to Trump a very good approach.

 

Yemen war: US unveils blueprint for ceasefire and peace talks

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/yemen-peace-talks-james-mattis-saudi-arabia-houthi

 

Yemen war: US presses Saudi Arabia to agree ceasefire

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46040789

 

I don't think arms sales would be severely effected. Stocks would need refilling. Some systems replaced. And deals concerning main battle systems are both long term, and have less to do with the present situation.

 

Seems like the potential costs (as in a possible backlash over impeding humanitarian disaster) begin to outweigh the dubious benefits/gains the war in Yemen represents. That, and the war effort itself going nowhere.

 

That's probably one of the things that could be squeezed out of SA in return for response to Khashoggi's murder being toned down. Guess it might be convenient for SA as well - for the same considerations appearing above.

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Morch

[CALSinCM]

Saudi Arabia is a huge pool of oil in the ground where weapons producing nations pour in armaments and then siphon off the US Dollars which float to the surface in the billions. 

Now, if the flow of arms slows, so do those billions of USD.  Can't have that.  So it's much more profitable to ignore the human suffering in Yemen, turn your backs, put a clothes-pin on your nose, and keep pouring weapons into the oil pit and don't think too long or hard about how they're being used.  It takes cannon fodder to produce obscene profits - but if you're a obscenely wealthy defense contractor executive - who cares?
As Stalin said: "One life is a tragedy; a million lives are a statistic."

[Pedrogaz]

Hypocrites. Ugly stinking hypocrites.