IT looks and sounds like a car advert – but is a call for action urging the public to help end the deadly arms trade killing Yemenis.
The Wire actor Dominic West has lent his voice to a new campaign from charity Save the Children calling for the UK to suspend arms sales to states in the Saudi-Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
The minute-long ad shows the shape of a laser-guided bomb emerge from the darkness, with West describing it as a “sleek and fast, unstoppable machine”, a “symbol of our engineering might” and “power wrapped in burnished aluminium”.
As the missile is revealed, he states: “Made in Britain, dropped on children.”
The charity is urging the public to sign a petition backing the end of the lucrative trade with the coalition, which is accused of war crimes in Yemen.
The UK has approved £3.8 billion of arms licences to Saudi Arabia alone since the conflict escalated in March 2015. Coalition members Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are said to be among foreign military delegations invited to the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London this week.
West said: “The UK should stand tall in the world and export hope to Yemen’s children, not fear.”
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