Britain Has Been at War with Yemenis for Decades: A Wider Perspective on the Saudi Bombing
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By T.J. Coles, PIPR
Plymouth Institute for Peace Research
Thursday, Feb 4, 2016
Britain has been crushing southern socialists in Yemen for over twenty
years. It also supplied arms and training during “Operation Scorched
Earth,” the little-known war that the Saleh government waged against
northern Huthis (before he started supporting them) and civilians.
RECENT REVELATIONS AND CRITICISMS
In
2015, it was revealed by the New York Times that “human rights experts
monitoring negotiations” at the UN to investigate Saudi war crimes in
Yemen “say it appears that the United States, Britain and France chose
instead to back a consensus resolution,” giving a free-hand to the Saudi
regime to block the inquiry. [1]
Earlier in 2016, it was
confirmed by the UK Ministry of Defence and the Saudi Foreign Minister,
Adel al-Jubeir, that “British military advisers are in control rooms
assisting the Saudi-led coalition staging bombing raids across Yemen
that have killed thousands of civilians” (Telegraph). numerous left-wing
media commentators and even Members of Parliament (MPs) have raised
concerns. [2]
For example, the Guardian’s Owen Jones writes:
“As the SNP’s [Scottish National Party’s] Angus Robertson put it to
[British Prime Minister Cameron]’s face, Britain is “effectively at war
[with Yemen]” – and yet few Britons know anything about it.” [3] Even
fewer know about the recent history.
A HISTORY OF “AWE-INSPIRING” VIOLENCE
Aden,
now Yemen, was a British “protectorate.” After WWII, it was subdued in
part by the then-new weapon of mass destruction, the bomber plane. In
1947, the Emir of Dhala’s son, Haidan, led an uprising which was crushed
by the Royal Air Force. [4]
The RAND Corporation’s Bruce
Hoffman writes that, “No sooner than the threat from Haidan been
neutralized than trouble erupted from another tribe, in the nearby
village of Al Husein.” Hoffman explains the aerial “punishment”: “Four
Mosquitoes and three Tempests from No. 8 Squadron were ordered to
destroy the village. The rocket and cannon air strike, the after-action
report stated, “was most impressive and awe-inspiring, and the attack
undoubtedly made an impression not easily forgotten.”” [5]
From
1962, Britain ran a covert mercenary war in Yemen, in which a staggering
200,000 people died in an eight year period, many from chemical
weapons, such as phosgene, produced by the tax-funded Porton Down
laboratories (the UK’s biochemical warfare plant). The operations were
run by MI6 head Dick White, and former MI6 vice chief turned banker
George Young via the latter’s Mossad-allied proxy, Neil McLean. [6]
High
Commissioner Sir Kennedy Trevaskis suggested to the British mercenary
forces that they “put the fear of death into the [Yemeni] villagers”
with more air raids. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote that “it
would not suit us too badly if [Yemenis] were occupied with their own
internal affairs during the next few years.” [7]
CRUSHING SOUTHERN SOCIALISM
In
1990, the South and North were united. Southern Yemenis have become
increasingly marginalised by the central government, with many losing
their jobs and pensions. State-rights are severely restricted.
The
southern secessionist movement is a loose association of interests,
including the Yemeni Socialist Party. It uses “grassroots networks to
mobilize support for the movement … Since 2007,” Human Rights Watch
(HRW) continues, “southern Yemenis have conducted sit-ins, marches and
demonstrations to protest what they say is the northern-dominated
central government’s treatment of them, including dismissal from the
civil and security services.” [8]
In its Annual Accounts
2006-07, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) published a map of
then-current deployments, including this one-line revelation: “Yemen:
Training support to forces of the Minister of Interior.” A map published
in the 2009-10 report confirms that training continued. This was used
to devastating effect in the Arab Spring, in which President Saleh’s
military murdered hundreds of activist. [9]
In November 2011,
Richard Burden “ask[ed] the Secretary of State for Defence … what the
training is which is being provided to Yemeni officers in the UK.” Nick
Harvey, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, confirmed that “Yemeni
officers are currently undertaking training on courses at the following
establishments within UK,” as they have been doing since at least 2007,
probably earlier: “Royal College of Defence Studies: strategic
development and training for senior officers. Joint Services Command and
Staff College: staff training for middle ranking officers. Britannia
Royal Naval College: Navy initial officer training. Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst: Army initial officer training. Defence School of
Languages: English language training.” [10]
THE SILENT WAR IN THE NORTH
In
the north, a civil war has been fought intermittently since 2004
against Huthi “rebels,” whose “political aims … [were] not clear. The
group originated as a religious movement—the “Believing Youth” (
al-shabbab al-mu’min)—in the mid-1990s, mainly to promote religious
education in Sa’da governorate,” writes HRW. “Yemenis in Sa’da
overwhelmingly follow the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam.” Indeed,
then-President Saleh is a Zaidi, whose people “ruled large parts of
Yemen for a thousand years under a religiously legitimized imamate until
1962, when a military-led coup eventually ushered in republican rule.”
[11]
In 2006, Britain exported £7.5 million-worth of weapons to
Yemen were used to deadly effect. They included (from the annual weapons
export report): “weapon day and night sights,” “armoured all wheel
drive vehicles,” “components for combat helicopters,” “components for
combat aircraft,” and “components for military surveillance aircraft.”
[12]
Since 2007, international aid agencies have sought access
to the northern Sa’da governorate. As the military operations
intensified, the Yemeni authorities “severely restricted humanitarian
access to tens of thousands of civilians in need.” Over the years, the
war has intensified. “After a fifth round of fighting erupted in May
2008,” HRW continues, “the government blocked the movement of all
commercial goods, including staple foods and fuel, an act that appears
to constitute an illegal collective punishment.” [12]
After
August 2009, the start of the war’s “sixth round,” shelling by both
sides, coupled with government aerial bombing resulted in the deaths of
hundreds of civilians and the razing of “entire villages.” By February
2010, aid agencies were struggling to help even a fraction of the
265,000 displaced civilians, most of whom were/are women and children.
“At a high-level meeting on Yemen in London in January 2010,” the UK’s
then-Foreign Secretary David Miliband noted Britain’s “commit[ment] to
non-interference in Yemen’s internal affairs.” [13]
On 12
February 2010, Saleh and the Huthis “agreed on a truce that ended the
sixth round of fighting in a five-year-long war that has devastated the
lives of hundreds of thousands of people.” Exemplifying Britain’s
“commitment to non-interference,” MoD training continued, as did
government-approved weapons exports. In 2010, Britain exported
£250,000-worth of weapons to Yemen, including “military firing sets,”
“military helmets,” and “technology for the use of military cameras.”
[14]
CONCLUSION
British media have succeeded
in keeping Britain’s role in Yemen a secret from the public. When Saudi
Arabia started bombing Yemen in its recent anti-Huthi war, it became
convenient to criticise the Saudis and sneak in some narrow critiques of
Britain’s contribution to their war crimes. However, this kind of
reporting only obscures the bigger, recent-historical picture.
NOTES
1.
Nick Cumming-Bruce, “Saudi objections halt UN inquiry of Yemen war,”
New York Times, 30 September, 2015.
2. Richard Spenser, “UK military ‘working alongside’ Saudi
bomb targeters in Yemen war,” Telegraph, 15 January, 2016.
3.
Owen Jones, “Britain is at war with Yemen. So why does nobody know
about it?,” Guardian, 28 January, 2016.
4.
See my “How to create your very own terrorist state,” Yemen Times, 25
July, 2010, archived here.
5. Ibid.
6.
Details and sources in my “Britain’s secret war in Yemen,” PIPR, 12
July, 2015.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
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