Germany extends Saudi arms export ban for another six months

The German government announced on Thursday it would extend for further six months its ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia which had strained ties with fellow European arms exporters with which German companies have joint programs.

"The order to halt authorized weapons exports to Saudi Arabia is extended by six months from Mar 31 to Sep 30, 2019," government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

The ban, imposed after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October, has been criticized by European allies since it put a question mark over billions of euros of military orders, including a 10 billion pound (13.27 billion U.S. dollars) deal to sell 48 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Riyadh that would be led by Britain's BAE Systems.

France and Britain have urged Germany to end the export halt, at least for joint European defense projects.

"Another unilateral German stop to defense exports, imposed without coordination with European and NATO partners, would be wrong and dangerous," German economic policy expert Joachim Pfeiffer told the Passauer Neue Presse daily.

In an attempt to assuage French and British partners' concerns, the German government agreed to extend for nine months export licenses that had already been granted, provided the companies undertook not to deliver any finished weapon systems until the end of the year.

This provision frees companies of the obligation to enter the costly and time-consuming process of applying for a new license.

Rights violations

Buildings destroyed during the war in Yemen. /VCG Photo

While Germany's EU allies call for an end of the export halt, it has the support of human rights groups, which argue that it should stay in place, a view that has many backers among the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners to Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) bloc in the coalition government.

"We oppose defense exports to dictatorships and into active conflict zones," SPD deputy leader Ralf Stegner said on public TV.

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."

International societies, especially human rights groups have long worried about the use of European and U.S. weapons exported to Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen, in which at least 10,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Yemen war since March 2015.

According to a CNN report last year, Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners have transferred American-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked fighters, hardline Salafi militias, and other factions waging war in Yemen.

Considering this, the German government called on France and Britain to ensure that any weapons systems delivered to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates would not be deployed in the Yemen conflict.

(CGTN)