The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia arrived in the UK yesterday, greeted by the Prime Minister, the Queen and promotional posters scattered across London. While Theresa May is focused on maintaining and expanding business relationships with Saudi Arabia, many have gathered to protest the Prince’s visit due to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Yemen civil war – one of the biggest humanitarian crises ever according to the UN. So, why should this matter to anyone living in the UK?
What is the Yemen conflict about? How did it start?
The conflict in Yemen began in 2015, when two factions decided to claim the right to govern the country. On one side, we have the rebel force Houthi and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh versus the current president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who has the support of western countries such as the US, UK and France. The Houthis, disappointed with President’s Hadid governance, decided to attempt and overthrow the government and have now control over Yemen’s largest city, Sana’a. The conflict in Yemen is considered one of the most nuanced and politically complex conflicts happening in the Middle East, with major political forces such as Saudi Arabia and Iran holding major interest in its outcome. Though they have vehemently denied it, the rebel forces are suspected to be backed by Iran and the new government is being protected by a coalition of Middle Eastern countries led by Saudi Arabia.
Why is Saudi Arabia involved in the conflict?
Saudi Arabia shares a 1,770km southern border with Yemen and they consider it to be one of the weakest security links in the Gulf and easily influenced by Iran. For Saudi Arabia, protecting the south of their border is a matter of national security and the instability in Yemen posed a great threat, with the potential to give Iran a strong foothold on the peninsula or enable al-Qaeda to move northwards. They formed a coalition with 8 other Middle Eastern countries and have been perpetrating massive air strikes and blockades in the country for 3 years.
Why are people criticizing the Crown Prince?
While the Prince has been praised for an attempt to modernize the country – he was the one behind lifting the ban on women and driving – and internal economic reform, the Yemen attacks have targeted mostly civilians and have caused a several humanitarian crisis and are in breach of international law. In July, the UN declared Yemen a ‘level-three’ emergency, the highest UN emergency level. Human rights groups have blamed the Saudi government for the destruction of infra-structures such as health centers and schools. The blockade imposed by the Prince left 20 million people in urgent need of food, water and medical support.
What is the UK’s involvement in the Yemen conflict?
Both Theresa May and Mohammed bin Salman are hoping to boost trade opportunities between the countries with the UK hoping to capitalize on Saudi plans to open up and diversify its economy by agreeing up to £65bn in mutual trade and investment opportunities over the next 10 years as well as a significant role for the UK in advising on the modernization of the Saudi school system. However, there is a darker side to the UK’s involvement in the conflict as it is one of Saudi Arabia’s major arm dealers. British sales of military equipment to Saudi Arabia exceeded 1.1bn in the first half of 2017 according to the Department for International Trade.
What has been the humanitarian toll of the conflict?
About 75% of the Yemeni population is in need of humanitarian assistance, with 11.3 million who require immediate assistance to survive. About 17.8 million don’t know where their next meal is coming from and 8.4 million people are in risk of starvation. 400,000 of them are children. With over than 50,000 people injured in 2017. Almost 10,000 have died and more than half of them were children. Saudi-led coalition air strikes are the overall leading cause of civilian casualties.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.