EU countries approve arms sales to Saudi, UAE worth 55 times aid to Yemen

Europe's arms sector is unaccountable and highly influential in the
corridors of power, with $86.7bn in approved sales to the Gulf since
2015.

European governments and the European Union publicly wring their hands about the "human tragedy" and need for "life-saving assistance" in war-torn Yemen.

Yet
while the Saudi-led coalition has bombed the region’s poorest country
over the past three years, the EU and European countries approved the
sale of more than $86.7bn in arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates, according to figures compiled by Middle East Eye.

The
reality is the provision of arms extends conflicts and leads to
humanitarian disasters, so to an extent the arms trade fuels the need
for aid assistance

- Jeff Abramson, Arms Control Association

The
value of the licences which the countries issued in 2015 and 2016 - the
only years for which data is available - amount to more than 55 times
what the EU and European countries have donated to the UN’s chronically
underfunded Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan.

Meanwhile,
independent researchers estimate that more than 56,000 Yemenis have been
killed with the UN warning “a clear and present danger” of an imminent
famine engulfing 14 million Yemenis – or half of the population.

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