BERLIN (MEMO) – Germany’s coalition government has approved new arms export deals to Saudi Arabia, despite the ban imposed as a result of its war on Yemen.
According to DW News, Germany’s Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor, Robert Habeck, confirmed in a letter to the German federal parliament that several deals on arms exports had been approved by Chancellor Olaf Scholz before his trip to Saudi Arabia.
The export licenses are part of a joint program with Italy, Spain and Britain, according to the letter.
Riyadh will be able to purchase equipment and ammunition for Eurofighter and Tornado jets worth €36 million ($35.2 million), reported Der Spiegel.
The European cooperation project will also supply spare parts for the Airbus A330 MRTT worth €2.8 million ($2.73 million).
The decision to approve new arms exports comes after Saudi Arabia criticized Germany’s arms embargo, earlier this year, describing the act as a “very wrong signal.”
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal Bin Farhan, told DPA that the kingdom was “in need of weapons to defend itself against” retaliatory attacks by Ansarullah fighters in neighboring Yemen.
In November 2018, the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, had halted arms exports to Saudi Arabia. The incumbent government, led by Olaf Scholz, the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party, recently said they would continue the embargo.
The reports emerged after Scholz returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, where he sought to seal new energy partnerships with the oil- and gas-rich Persian Gulf states.
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 popular 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 its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Rights groups have criticized the Saudi-led coalition for air raids that have killed thousands of civilians at hospitals, schools and markets, and urged Western governments to halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia and its allies.