Theresa May press Saudi Arabia to Stop the Long-Running War on Yemen

YemenExtra

SH.A.

Quoted from al-Masirah.net, British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has pressed the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to work with the United Nations to find a solution to the long-running war on Yemen. In a 20-minute meeting with Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 summit in Japan, described by officials as “serious”, Ms May also called for ”open and transparent” legal process in relation to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Meanwhile, a trial of 11 individuals at the Riyadh Criminal Court in relation to the Khashoggi murder has been taking place behind closed doors and the defendants – five of them facing the death penalty – have not been named.

Regarding the war on Yemen, the official said: “The prime minister stressed the need to continue working towards a political solution to end the war, which causes great human suffering.”

Earlier this month, the British Court of Appeal ruled that UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia were illegal because of the government’s failure to assess the potential humanitarian effects of weapons use in Yemen.

The United Nations described the war on Yemen as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. In February, it estimated that 17,700 civilians had died and 3.3 million were still displaced.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in Yemen since January 2016 according to a new report by the Armed Conflict and Location Event Data Project (ACLED) issued last Thursday, including 10,000 people who were killed in the past five months alone.

The ACLED report recorded 3,155 direct attacks that targeted civilians, resulting in more than 7,000 civilian deaths.