WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – Anti-war and human rights activists have decried a proposed military support contract for Saudi Arabia as a betrayal of President Joe Biden’s promise to end American support for the devastating Saudi war in Yemen.
The U.S. State Department announced Thursday that it has approved a military maintenance agreement for Saudi Arabia, worth $500 million.
The announcement came despite Biden’s pledge in February that he was ending U.S. support for the war in Yemen, including “relevant arms sales,” touting the move as part of efforts to restore an emphasis on human rights. “This war has to end,” Biden declared at the time, adding that the conflict had created a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.”
Peace advocates, who had hailed the president’s move back then, are dismayed at his administration for breaking the promise of ending support for the Saudi war in Yemen.
“This breaks the Biden administration’s promise to end U.S. support for the tragic war in Yemen,” tweeted Peace Action executive director Jon Rainwater, adding that it is “pretty tone-deaf for State Department to call [Saudi Arabia] a ‘friendly country.’”
Jeff Abramson, a senior fellow for conventional arms control and transfers at Washington-based Arms Control Association, accused the Biden administration of being disingenuous about claiming to support an end to the blockade of Yemen.
“If the U.S. is serious about ending the blockade of Yemen, and to not provide ‘offensive weapons’ to Saudi Arabia, it certainly is not using its leverage when it plans a half $billion agreement to continue service of Saudi helicopters,” he tweeted.
Erik Sperling-- executive director of Foreign Policy, an advocacy group raising awareness about the conflict in Yemen-- tweeted a series of reports chronicling atrocities committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, using helicopters.
Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen and its terrible human rights record have prompted calls from advocacy groups and some members of Congress for the United States to reexamine relations with its traditional ally.
In addition to a staggering death toll, the war has displaced millions of people, spread famine and infectious diseases, and destroyed much of Yemen’s infrastructure.
In a fresh Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen’s southeastern province of Shabwa, seven civilians have been killed, as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its atrocious bombardment campaign against its southern neighbor.
On Saturday, Saudi-led warplanes struck a civilian vehicle in Markha districts of the oil-rich province, killing all seven passengers on board, Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported, citing local sources.
It was the latest Saudi-led airstrike against the impoverished nation that led to the killing of a number of civilians, who are under constant bombardment by the invaders.