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BFF-06
GERMANY-SAUDI-DEFENCE-EXPORTS-YEMEN
Germany adds six months to Saudi arms export ban: government
BERLIN, March 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s
coalition government Thursday extended by six months an embargo on weapons
exports to Saudi Arabia, instituted last October in response to the murder of
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The ban has faced opposition from within the German government and the EU,
but has the support of rights groups.
“The order to halt authorised weapons exports to Saudi Arabia is extended
by six months from March 31 to September 30, 2019,” government spokesman
Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
Berlin reacted to Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
last October by declaring a freeze on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other
countries involved in the Yemen war.
It has since faced protests by EU partners because the ban has impacted
joint defence projects such as the Eurofighter and Tornado jets.
While France and Britain have urged Germany to end the export halt, human
rights groups argue it should stay in place — a view that has many backers
among the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners to Merkel’s
conservative CDU/CSU bloc in the coalition government.
“We oppose defence exports to dictatorships and into active conflict
zones,” SPD deputy leader Ralf Stegner said on public TV.
Merkel’s bloc favoured resumed sales, at least for joint European defence
projects.
“Another unilateral German stop to defence exports, imposed without
coordination with European and NATO partners, would be wrong and dangerous,”
its economic policy expert Joachim Pfeiffer told the Passauer Neue Presse
daily.
– Rights violations –
This week, French ambassador Anne-Marie Descotes criticised Germany’s
“unpredictable” arms export policy and pointed out that some companies in the
sector were marketing products as “German free” in terms of components.
A German security council meeting Wednesday failed to resolve the issue,
media reports said, leading to further discussions Thursday.
One reported compromise proposal was to give the green light to
multinational defence products with a German share of no more than 20
percent.
Stegner urged “a sensible solution”, stressing that the SPD too wants
Germany to cooperate with other European powers on joint defence projects.
Media reported another idea on the table would be for Germany to hold onto
six naval patrol vessels and a training ship ordered by Saudi Arabia.
Media group RND said that if the Saudi export stop was extended by six
months, the German state could buy the ships for its navy, customs service
and federal police.
At least 10,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Yemen war
since March 2015.
This week more than 20 non-government groups operating in Yemen wrote to
Merkel to urge her to maintain the freeze, citing the “great risk” that the
arms would be used to “facilitate violations of international humanitarian
law and human rights”.
Germany is among the world’s top arms exporters, a group led by the United
States that also includes Russia, China, France and Britain.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0840 hrs