German government extends ban on exporting arms to Saudi Arabia

Germany has decided to extend until the end of next year an embargo on exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia, which was adopted due to the Saudi-led war against Yemen and the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Germany’s official DPA news agency, quoting government officials, reported that the Berlin government went a step ahead to tighten the ban and revoked the permits that were previously on hold, with an exception for weapons produced jointly with other European countries.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition agreed in March 2018 to impose a freeze on arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia.

Germany’s ruling coalition government has also refused to continue arms exports to other countries that are directly involved in the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. 

Along with Germany, a number of other European countries, including Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, have also suspended arms sales to Riyadh.

Back in November, Yemen’s Ansarullah movement praised countries that have adopted measures to halt arms sales to the “child-killer” regime in Saudi Arabia, calling on other world states to follow suit.

“We express our appreciation to the countries that have taken steps to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, which is a child-killer regime,” the Ansarullah spokesman, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, said in a statement at the time, referring to the Riyadh regime’s crimes against Yemeni children.

He emphasized that freezing such exports to the kingdom is the least humanitarian position that could be taken in the face of the brutal Saudi-led aggression against Yemen, which also poses threats to global security and stability.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a military onslaught against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.

MG