June, 21 2018, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
StWC Press Office: 0207 561 4830
Chris Nineham: 07930 536519
Celebrities & Campaigners to Hand in Letter to the Prime Minister Over Assault on Yemeni Port of Hodeidah
WASHINGTON
Tomorrow (Friday 22 June), a letter signed by celebrities, MPs and academics will be handed in at No. 10 Downing Street to protest against UK support for the Saudi Arabian assault on the vital Yemeni port of Hodiedah. The port is an essential route for aid and other supplies which are desperately needed throughout the country following three years of callous bombing at the hands of Saudi Arabia, which has been supported throughout by the Conservative government and the UK military.
Signatories include writer and priest Giles Fraser, Chris Williamson MP and CND General Secretary Kate Hudson. The letter (text and full signatories below) will be handed in at 17:00 on 22/06/18. Interviews will be available on the day.
The news that Saudi-backed government forces have begun an assault on the key Yemeni port of Hodeidah is threatening disaster for the region and for the 8 million people in the war-torn country that are at risk of starvation. Saudi forces have launched this attack with the backing of the Coalition which is supported by the US and Britain.
The port is the main point of entry for aid and agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if it is attacked.
Donald Trump has been quietly escalating America's role in the Saudi-led war on Yemen, disregarding the huge humanitarian toll and voices in Congress that are trying to rein in the Pentagon's involvement.
He has been supported in this by the UK government who in March this year rolled out the red carpet for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who has been described as the 'architect of the war.' The UK has licensed PS4.6 billion worth of fighter jets, bombs and missiles to the regime since the intervention began. These will be amongst the aircraft that are flying over Yemen right now, and the bombs and missiles that are being dropped from them.
It is reported that about 10,000 people - two-thirds of them civilians - have been killed in the fighting since March 2015, according to the UN. The vast majority of casualties have been the result of coalition air strikes. The UN's figures do not include those who have died of disease and malnutrition. The conflict and a partial blockade by the coalition have also left 22 million people in need of humanitarian aid and led to a cholera outbreak that is thought to have killed thousands.
It is time for an end to British collusion in what is already the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe. Britain must stop all weapons sales to Saudi and the other combatant countries and end its support for the war.
Liz Saville-Roberts MP, leader of Plaid Cymru's parliamentary group
Chris Williamson MP
Angus MacNeil MP
Alan Brown MP
MuradQureshi, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition
Lindsey German, Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary
Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary
Kevin Courtney, NEU Joint General Secretary
Kika Markham, actor
Giles Fraser, writer and priest
Francesca Martinez, comedian, actor and author
Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography
Stop the War was founded in September 2001 in the weeks following 9/11, when George W. Bush announced the "war on terror". Stop the War has since been dedicated to preventing and ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. Stop the War opposes the British establishment's disastrous addiction to war and its squandering of public resources on militarism. We have initiated many campaigns around these issues.
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