Thursday, January 04, 2018

Norway halts arms sales to UAE over Yemen war...

Norway has suspended the export of arms and munitions to the United Arab Emirates over the war in Yemen. The UAE joined the Saudi coalition on day one of the bloody campaign which has killed tens of thousands.

“Following a comprehensive assessment of the situation in Yemen, and the increasing risk associated with the United Arab Emirates’ military involvement in Yemen, the Foreign Ministry decided on 19 December 2017 to suspend valid licenses for A-materials (weapons and ammunition) to the United Arab Emirates,” Norway's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. New export licenses of arms to UAE would not be granted, the ministry added.

While there's been no reports of Norwegian weapons being used in Yemen, Oslo said the decision was “an expression of the country’s hard line” position on the issue. “Norway generally has very strict legislation and relevant guidelines for exports of weapons, ammunition and other military equipment,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide said. In 2016, Norway’s arms exports to the UAE stood at 79 million Norwegian krone ($9.7 million), according to Statistics Norway data.

Oslo, however, still exports weapons and ammunition to Kuwait, another member of the Saudi-led coalition.
The conflict in Yemen recently marked 1,000 days since the Saudi-led military intervention in March, 2015. The coalition is waging a military campaign against Shia Houthi rebels in the region in an attempt to propel the ousted Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power. The UAE has been part of the military intervention from the very first day of military operations and has contributed significantly. Full story...

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  2. Yemenis ‘pay the price’ for UK and America’s ‘brazenly hypocritical’
  3. Starving Yemeni children, bloated US weapons makers...
  4. Netherlands votes to ban weapons exports to Saudi Arabia...

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