Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has held with his counterparts in (a) the United Arab Emirates and (b) Saudi Arabia on incidences of violence that took place in southern Yemen in August and July 2019.
Keith Vaz: ...from Hodeidah. In the al-Dhale governorate in southern Yemen, there has been a sevenfold increase in air raids in recent months. In Hajjah, in northern Yemen, fighting near the border with Saudi Arabia has caused the displacement of 100,000 people. If the agreement is not implemented in full, and if these recent developments break down, it is likely that the peace process will...
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Prime Minister met with Yemen President Hadi at the EU-Arab Summit in Sharm El Sheikh on 24 to 25 February 2019.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Prime Minister, whether she raised the conflict in Yemen with her Saudi Arabian counterpart at the EU-Arab Summit in Sharm El Sheikh on 24-25 February 2019.
Keith Vaz: ..., Walton (Dan Carden) and for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg); and the hon. Member for Reigate (Crispin Blunt). A meeting of the Yemen Quad of the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates took place in Warsaw on 13 February. When is the next meeting of the Quad going to take place? There have been only five meetings since 2015. They must meet...
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assurances he has sought from the United Arab Emirates Government that UK-produced weapons have not reached rebel factions in the conflict in Yemen.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens are imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates.
Keith Vaz: It is a huge pleasure to follow the hon. and gallant Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat). He spoke with great passion and huge knowledge. His connection with Yemen—he learned Arabic when he was in Yemen—is known to all of us. As Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, he has to cover the world, so I thank him for coming here today and participating in this debate. I...
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on humanitarian aid provision in Yemen.
Keith Vaz: ...such an assault “would, in a single stroke, take peace off the table.” Will the Minister ask the Prime Minister today, after her statement to the House, to speak to Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, and tell them that they must immediately stop the military preparations for the offensive? Will he instruct our UN...
Keith Vaz: .... This is a Thursday afternoon, but the House is packed. I also thank the young and swashbuckling Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who learned about Yemen when he went to live there to learn Arabic, and who spoke beautifully about its contribution to the history of the Arab world, and of course my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg), who has made this a...
Keith Vaz: ...the people of Yemen. Members may of course wish to raise many issues, and rightly so, but the motion is clear, and its focus is on bringing peace to Yemen. How did we arrive at this point? In the Arab spring of 2011, Yemen and Tunisia stood apart in the region as the sites of the only peaceful transitions to democracy. Particular praise for that goes to the current Minister for Europe and...
Keith Vaz: I will. The hon. Gentleman has been to Yemen; indeed, he learned Arabic when he stayed there.
Keith Vaz: ...thanks to the BBC debate running a little short. Whether we like or hate the BBC, we should thank it for allowing us this extra time. A generation of Yemenis now risk learning how to hate Saudi Arabia and the west. At a recent meeting organised by the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, journalists Nawal al-Maghafi and Peter Oborne, who had recently returned from...
Keith Vaz: ...Yemen, Dr Abu-Baker Al-Kirby. These parliamentary ties further demonstrate the unique relationship our country has had with Yemen over the past 150 years. When Yemen was last in crisis, during the Arab Spring of 2011, it was the British Government, in particular the current Minister of State at the Foreign Office, the right hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan), who was...
Keith Vaz: ...airport to try to stitch together the patchwork of international diplomacy that now exists. Much mention was rightly made by the hon. Member for East Renfrewshire of the involvement of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s involvement has been important; had that not happened, I believe that the country would have been overrun and that President Hadi would not have returned to Aden. We now need...
Keith Vaz: ...and I cannot bear to think of what has happened to it. Finally, I wish to mention Tunisia, another country of interest. It is not quite the middle east, but we would include it as being part of the Arab world. I know that the Minister has been there recently and is very focused on its situation. We needed to take urgent action and the travel ban was necessary at that time, but it is now...
Keith Vaz: ...political process. They launched an attack on Sana’a, stormed the presidential palace and forced out President Hadi. A coalition of Gulf states and other countries in the region, led by Saudi Arabia, responded to President Hadi’s request for intervention. The coalition began a campaign of air strikes against the Houthi rebels, to “restore stability to Yemen by crippling the...
Keith Vaz: ...in Aden. The Houthi rebels are yo-yoing between forming their own Government and stuttered negotiations. The embassies of the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have all been closed and evacuated. Supporters of various parties and tribal groups are protesting and clashing in the streets, and some are being kidnapped and...
Keith Vaz: ...tenure in office, the lives of many Yemenis were saved. Few of us in politics can say that. They were able to deliver on a promise. The Leader of the House had a critical role at the time of the Arab spring when he was Foreign Secretary. We know that the British Government did a great deal in the past. That is why we look to the Minister; I hope that the Government will be able to do more,...