WASHINGTON (Middle East) – A U.S. congressional watchdog’s report has found serious gaps in the government’s oversight of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Human Rights Watch, which called for a suspension of weapons sales.
“Without being able to effectively monitor how U.S.-made weapons are being used by the Saudis and their allies, or if U.S. training and support is mitigating civilian harm, the U.S. risks more than its values. It also risks complicity in the crimes themselves,” the rights group said in a statement.
The internal report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), obtained by HRW, says that neither the State nor Defence Departments could “provide evidence” that they had “investigated any incidents of potential unauthorized use of equipment transferred to Saudi Arabia or UAE”.
The GAO report also concluded that the U.S. government had failed to evaluate civilian casualties and the use of American-made weapons in the killings caused by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
The report, also seen by The New York Times, focuses on attacks between 2015 and 2021 by the Saudi-led coalition on Yemen.
“The alliance has carried out deadly strikes using combat jets and munitions that have been supplied and maintained largely by American companies with the approval of the State Department and the Pentagon,” the report said.
News of the report comes as President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia. The White House confirmed on Tuesday that the trip would take place in mid-July.
Earlier this month, several top U.S. lawmakers urged Biden to rework Washington’s relationship with the kingdom.
The GAO report also comes after a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a War Powers resolution that would bring an end to all remaining support for the Saudi-led coalition at war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the U.S. and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.