Daniel DePetris

Britain must follow Germany’s example to help end Yemen’s civil war

There is no civil war in the world today whose effects are so detrimental to civilians as the conflict engulfing Yemen. The war, pitting a Houthi rebellion in control of the Yemeni capital against the nominal Yemeni government in the south, just crossed its four-year anniversary last week. The United Nations is trying its best to end the fighting, with little to show for it other than a ceasefire in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida which may or (more likely) may not get peace talks off the ground.

Unlike the United Kingdom, which has exported £5.7 billion of arms to the Saudi-led military coalition bombing Yemen to smithereens, Germany has largely been a passive spectator to the conflict. To the extent Berlin is involved at all, it is with political statements calling on the country’s warring sides to sit down and talk. During a donor conference last month, Germany pledged over £86m (€100 m) in humanitarian aid for a Yemeni population sorely in need of international assistance.  

Just as important as what the German government is doing, however, is what it’s not doing: selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, the country responsible for most of the civilian casualties in Yemen as it seeks to drive the Houthis back into their caves in the north. Last week, German chancellor Angela Merkel decided to extend the temporary moratorium for another six months—a freeze that is desperately annoying to the UK and France, both of whom would rather pretend the Saudis are doing their best in order to justify business as usual.

Jeremy Hunt has testified that resolving Yemen’s civil war is a top item on his ministry’s agenda. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Hunt penned a letter to his German colleague asking him to loosen the Saudi arms moratorium.

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