Arms exports to the Saudi led coalition
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Since the peace agreement of half a year ago the situation in Yemen has only worsened:
new frontlines, more people homeless and not enough supplies to help
those in need. With the recent surge of the conflict in Aden the war has
become even more complex.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has withdrawn its troops but first it
established a network of mercenaries and tribal militia in Yemen's
southern regions. “Even though the UAE is downsizing its military
presence, Abu Dhabi does not wish to surrender its influence in Yemen
(…) To preserve its favourable strategic position, the UAE will
selectively engage in counter-terrorism operations in Yemen, assist its
proxies in their efforts to consolidate hegemony over southern Yemen”
wrote journalist Samuel Ramani. Last year, journalists found Western arms militias, among them German G3 rifles, Swiss grenades and Belgian FN Fal.
According to Ramani the UAE will “expand its diplomatic involvement in
Yemen. These actions will help ensure that UAE-Saudi Arabia relations
are not severely damaged by Abu Dhabi's unilateral withdrawal (…) “Abu
Dhabi’s withdrawal announcement was aimed, in part, at salvaging the
UAE’s tarnished reputation,” Meanwhile the European Union is not only an
important source for the weaponry of the UAE, but also its most important trading partner in 2018. For the Saudi's, the Union is also its most important economic partner, far ahead of China and the United States.
Continued relations
In
face of the low human rights standards in both countries the EU is
divided. Countries like the UK and French are major arms providers. And
for all European Union members taken together the KSA is the most
prominent destination for arms in a twenty year period (1998-2017).
Riyadh imported European military products valued €16.1 billion (the next destination for EU arms, the United States, received arms valued €13.5 billion.)
French Thales had not changed its position on investing in Saudi Arabia, the New York Times reported
in the wake after the Kashoggi murder shock: “Thales has 700 employees
in the kingdom, which it supplies with military hardware, missiles,
electronic warfare systems and even high-tech security surveillance
systems for Mecca and other holy sites.” President Trump advertises
every sale (past, present and future) as if it is a credit for his
America First policy, overestimating the size and the jobs it will bring to the US.
The fact that the desert Kingdom was the cradle of the 9-11 terrorists,
which prompted the War on Terrorism, is completely and deliberately
overlooked. The UK government was told
by the Court of Appeal that it was unlawful to have granted arms export
licences to the Saudi's without making any assessment as to whether
violations of international humanitarian law had taken place. But the UK
government is already appealing the verdict.
Western civilisation
Why do Western countries acts so uncivilised? First of all, there are
the economic motives for the weapon manufacturers, such as lowering
relative research and development costs by increasing the scale of
production through exports. The Gulf countries are easy costumers as
they are rich and hungry for weaponry. UK International Relations expert
David Wearing investigated the economics behind the Anglo-Arabian
relationship and exposed how the City is dependent on petrodollars at
the expense corruption, human rights violations and a sound economic
policy, and UK arms sales are part of this relationship.
But selling arms is also forging long time ties between militaries,
defence industries and governments. These ties affects all other
relations. The French for example have their only foreign base outside Africa in Abu Dhabi, which makes their arms relation with the Emirates of huge importance. L’Observatoire des Armements
details relations between Paris and the region and notes that 60 per
cent of French arms exports go to the Gulf. The French help the Emirates
to strengthen its footprint in Africa. The US recently started to expand its military installations in Saudi Arabia
in connection to its Iran policy. Regional allies in one of the most
volatile regions of the world are kept close for strategic reasons even
if morals and ethics ask to do otherwise.
Restricive policies under pressure
Some countries have more restrictive policies. Recently, the Italian branch of RWM officially announced the end
of export of bombs from Italy to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. There are
also restrictive policies in Finland and Germany. The Dutch government
has a restrictive policy too, but deplores the negative consequences for
the Dutch defence industry. Thus it is no surprise that the government
recently informed the parliament that it will relax its policy on arms sales to Egypt, although eight days before
the country was referred to as violating international humanitarian
law. Egypt is an important customer for naval equipment from Thales
Nederland, key branch of the French defence giant. The Dutch example
shows that good intentions to make ethics more important are vulnerable
to pressure from industry interests. Also from Germany controversial arms exports still go to Saudi Arabia.
Pieter Wezeman of SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme said to Inter Press Service:
“If, (very hypothetical) the USA and the UK would stop supplying arms
to Saudi Arabia, this would be a major problem for Saudi Arabia, in
military and financial terms.” He pointed out that Saudi Arabia would
find it very hard to maintain its military equipment without the support
of the large numbers of US and UK service personnel in the country. The
same will be true for the contingent working for Thales. Ending arms
trade to the Saudi's, the Emirates and other coalition countries
fighting in Yemen would be a significant step to peace. The arms export
and foreign policy of the European Union is a paper tiger when it comes
to moral policy.
Geschreven voor Stop Wapenhandel
Geschreven voor Stop Wapenhandel
