UN experts find British-made bomb parts in Yemen, in breach of international law
- Britain has licensed at least US$5 billion worth of exports to Saudi Arabia since its war in Yemen began, with accusations of indiscriminate bombing commonplace
- Such arms sales were held to be unlawful in June by the Court of Appeal in London, which found ministers had failed to conduct a proper impact assessment
A guidance unit for a “high explosive” bomb – stamped with the name of Brighton-based company EDO MBM Technology – was found at the site in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a after four bombs were dropped in the early morning of September 13.
Missile parts from the same British factory – ultimately owned by the US arms supplier L3 Harris – were also found by the UN experts at the Alsonidar complex following a second air strike nine days later, where a water pump factory and a former tube maker were located.
British arms sales to Saudi Arabia of equipment that could be deployed in Yemen were held to be unlawful in June by the Court of Appeal in London, because ministers had failed to conduct a proper impact assessment of the bombing on civilians.
Dr Anna Stavrianakis, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Sussex, said the UN report showed that such an assessment could have taken place. “This revelation is a damning indictment of a policy that is reckless in its disregard for civilian harm.”
At the time, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said that warplanes had hit the Alsonidar plant because it “is now becoming a military manufacturing unit specialised in producing pipes Houthis use to assemble local-made missiles”.
But reporting to the UN Security Council, the panel concluded “there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the factory complex had become a legitimate military objective” because there was no evidence that any hardware was manufactured there.
The tube maker on the site had not been operational since 2014, and the panel said the only mitigating factor was that there were no casualties because the attacks took place shortly after midnight.
The UN accounts were made publicly available in January 2018, following the panel’s investigation, though they had remained largely unnoticed.
Ministers have said they would appeal the ruling in the UK’s Supreme Court but the former international trade secretary, Liam Fox, told parliament that arms exports to Saudi Arabia would be suspended pending an official review.
“The government’s emphasis on the diplomatic, strategic and economic benefits of arms sales are ringing increasingly hollow,” Stavrianakis said. “Its commitment to international law is repeatedly revealed to be superficial.”
