European Parliament Calls for Saudi Arms Embargo
Local Editor
The European Parliament called on the European Union to impose an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, saying Britain, France and other EU governments should no longer sell weapons to a country that brutally kills civilians in Yemen.
EU lawmakers, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of an embargo, said Britain had licensed more than $3 billion of arms sales to Saudi Arabia since Saudi-led forces began military operations in Yemen in March last year.
More than 6,000 people have been martyred, almost half of them civilians, according to the United Nations, and the European Parliament said it was acting on humanitarian grounds.
"This is about Yemen. The human rights violations have reached a level that means Europe is obliged to act and to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia," said Richard Howitt, a British center-left lawmaker who led efforts to hold the vote.
The parliament's vote is not legally binding but lawmakers hope it will pressure EU governments to agree to an embargo, following a petition of 750,000 European citizens calling for the suspension of weapon sales.
British lawmaker Alyn Smith, a Scottish Nationalist who grew up in Saudi Arabia, has also written to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini calling for the embargo.
Britain and France are the main European suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia, while Germany also licensed arms exports of almost $200 million to the kingdom in the first six months of 2015, the latest economy ministry data available.
Saudi Arabia's ambassador, Abdulrahman Al Ahmed, defended the kingdom's actions in a letter to EU lawmakers on Sunday, saying that "the larger ramifications of our not taking action in Yemen would have had devastating geopolitical consequences for the kingdom, Europe and the broader West as well."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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