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RAF pauses Llanbedr plan after outcry over training of Saudi pilots

By agency reporter
September 2, 2020

The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) and Cymdeithas y Cymod (The Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales) have welcomed the news that plans for RAF Valley (Anglesey/ Ynys Môn) to use Llanbedr Airfield to develop their training programme are now on hold, or “formally paused”.

According to Snowdonia Aerospace, who introduced the plans, “This has resulted from the RAF currently suspending their review into looking to operate at Llanbedr”. Both Cymdeithas y Cymod and the PPU say they will stay alert to any future end to this pause.

Many local people, and beyond in Gwynedd and Anglesey, had objected strongly to the rises in noise levels that would follow such an increase in training flights, and to the likelihood of Llanbedr being used to train Saudi military pilots (who have been trained at RAF Valley).

There is an ongoing campaign against the training of pilots from Saudi Arabia at RAF Valley because of Saudi Arabia's involvement in the war in Yemen. Meanwhile UK companies continue to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

Pryderi Llwyd Jones, Chair of the local branch of Cymdeithas y Cymod said: “This is a pause and it is not a time to relax in our campaigning but to be vigilant in a world where the arms industry is growing and war victims increasing. Is it not time, after its long history, that Llanbedr should be developed for peaceful purposes only?”

Symon Hill, Campaigns Manager of the Peace Pledge Union, said: "We are delighted that the RAF have backed down in the face of local people taking a stand against militarism. This isn't a one-off. If the RAF try something similar elsewhere, they will meet with the same resistance.

"Meanwhile the campaign against the training of Saudi pilots at RAF Valley is growing: the RAF back-down over Llanbedr comes less than week after a soldier based in Wales was arrested for having the courage to speak out against British support for the Saudi war in Yemen."

There is also an ongoing campaign against the development by Snowdonia Aerospace of the airfield at Llanbedr for drone testing. Drones are now used extensively in warfare and are known in Welsh as the 'birds of death'. But the PPU says this process has also been delayed, by the Civil Aviation Authority, because Snowdonia Aerospace have failed to fulfill the requirements needed to proceed.

* Cymdeithas y Cymod https://www.cymdeithasycymod.cymru/

* Peace Pledge Union https://www.ppu.org.uk/

[Ekk/6]

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