UK support for the Saudi-led military aggression on Yemen has come under fire ahead of peace talks as senior Tories and human rights groups accuse Prime Minister David Cameron of fueling instability in the country.

UK support for the Saudi-led military aggression on Yemen has come under fire ahead of peace talks as senior Tories and human rights groups accuse Prime Minister David Cameron of fueling instability in the country, which has received £55 million in UK aid this year.

Though the UK has emerged as one of Yemen’s top humanitarian donors, Cameron’s government has been criticized for continuing to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia during the conflict, in which the UN says some 6,000 people have been killed.

The new wave of criticism comes on the eve of UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland. Rumors of a ceasefire set for Monday made the rounds over the weekend, but proved unfounded when a top Saudi commander and an Emirati officer were killed in a missile attack by the Yemeni army and the popular committees.

Former Tory cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell told the Telegraph: “Britain’s humanitarian and foreign policy are pursuing different ends.”

“The Yemenis are being pulverized by the Saudis while we try to get aid in through ports which are being blockaded and while British ordnance is being dropped there.”

Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.

Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.

In September Oxfam called the situation “a humanitarian disaster,” and accused the UK of exacerbating the crisis by continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Since Yemen’s war began, Britain has granted the Saudis at least 37 export licenses for military goods.

Tim Cross, a retired Major General, said: “The UK is of course well within its rights to sell arms to Saudi Arabia when in line with international and domestic legal frameworks.

“But there is a clear risk that the government is complicit in indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas – breaches of international and UK law. How our ally is using British arms runs counter to our self-proclaimed role in the world, and our aid efforts.”