Generals, politicians and celebrities say US, France and UK must use their UN security council seats to ease humanitarian crisis

More than 350 high-profile figures including six Nobel peace prize laureates, former military generals, politicians, diplomats and celebrities have marked the 1,000th day of the Yemen civil war by calling on leaders of France, the US and the UK to stop “stoking the flames of war” and instead use their seats on the UN security council to act as peace brokers.



The signatories to the statement, including Juliette Binoche, Charlotte Rampling and Peter Gabriel, as well as religious leaders and heads of most of the main UK aid agencies, claim Yemen is at a tipping point.

Their statement to the leaders of the three western nations said: “If you don’t want the burden of the lives of thousands more Yemeni children on your hands, then the time to act is now. Yemen can’t wait any longer.

“To prevent further catastrophe and famine, Yemen needs an immediate ceasefire; an end to all blockages on access for food, fuel and medical supplies; and investment in a new, inclusive peace process.”

The appeal came after the UK international development secretary Penny Mordaunt vowed she would monitor fresh assurances given to her personally by leaders in Saudi Arabia that they will stop obstructing humanitarian and commercial aid being sent to the key western ports in Yemen, deepening an already critical humanitarian aid crisis.

The Saudis claim the UN inspection regime is too lax, and aid has been diverted to support Houthi rebels fighting the UN-backed government, charges that were again rejected by aid agencies at the weekend.

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Mordaunt’s department said she had received assurances following meeting a meeting in Riyadh that aid into the key ports of Hodeidah and Saleef would swiftly increase due to the speeding up of clearances and closer cooperation between the UN’s verification team and the Saudi-led coalition.

But this assurance has been given before and Mordaunt added she would be monitoring this undertaking. The issue is injecting a new tension into the normally close UK-Saudi relations.

Yemen is gripped by a brutal civil war that has lasted 1,000 days as of Tuesday. There is a growing international outcry at Saudi methods used against the Houthi rebels in what has been seen as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both sides have been accused of war crimes, corruption and brutality.

Mordaunt had been in Djibouti to speak to aid workers about how international aid is failing to be distributed within Yemen, where she said she had heard harrowing reports of the scale of the crisis.

She also discussed how the UN-overseen inspections team, in conjunction with the Saudis, was examining ships to ensure no weaponsdestined for Houthi rebels were being smuggled into the country via humanitarian or commercial aid shipments. The Saudis have been accused of strangling aid through bureaucratic delays.

In the Commons last week the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said he had warned the Saudis against using starvation as a weapon of war, but there was little sign in the past week that his remarks had unsettled Riyadh into speeding the flow of aid.

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Mourdant did not directly accuse the Saudis of breaching humanitarian law, saying instead: “It is very clear that if you are using starvation as a weapon you are in breach of international humanitarian law. And what I have seen on my visit is that what is being held up is aid.”

She added: “I very much understand the importance of our relationship with Saudi Arabia. But we do not help that relationship by not speaking about the facts of the matter.”

Breaches of humanitarian law are the UK government threshold for deciding if ministers can grant export licences for arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Mordaunt stressed wrongdoing was occurring on both sides in the Yemen civil war as she announced an extra £50m in UK aid. The war is now widely described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, and its resolution has been declared by Johnson as his number one priority.

Following a missile attack on Riyadh airport that the US and Saudis claim was orchestrated by Iran, the Saudis three weeks ago imposed a blockade on most humanitarian and all commercial aid reaching the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah.