Belgian region halts arms sales to Saudi Arabia over 'Yemen drama'

Confirming a report in the newspaper L'Echo, Belgium's Wallonia said Minister-President Elio di Rupo had "the Yemen drama" in mind when refusing an export licence to the Saudi air force.

In a letter seen by AFP, it added "the minister-president refuses all licences for the Saudi defence ministry".

Saudi Arabia's Royal Guard and National Guard, which French-speaking Wallonia sees as less implicated in the Yemeni conflict, will continue to receive Belgian weapons and ammunition.

In Belgium, licences for arms sales are issued by regional governments, and human rights groups have been lobbying Wallonia to halt shipments to the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia intervened in the almost five-year civil war in its southern neighbour to support the government side, but the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of civilian lives.

The kingdom is one of the world's biggest arms purchasers, spending billions on US and UK arms in particular.

Riyadh depends less on Belgium arms, but is nevertheless Wallonia's number one customer, accounting for 225 million euros ($247 million) in a 950 million euro industry in 2018.

FN Herstal, which makes rifles and machine guns, and John Cockerill (CMI), which specialises in gun turrets for armoured vehicles, employ 4,400 Belgians between them.

The regional government is FN Herstal's sole shareholder.  

Wallonia's announcement came as a coalition of human rights groups denounced the imminent arrival in France of a cargo ship said to be picking up European weapons for the Saudis.

Elsewhere in Europe, a de-facto arms export ban that had prevented German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall from exporting armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia was annulled by a German court in December.

Read more: No, 'job losses' isn't justification for continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia

Germany was the only European country to impose an arms sales ban on Saudi Arabia in November 2018, after the shocking killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi revealed the kingdom's involvement in the murder.

Meanwhile, the UK government has since 2015 doubled the value of arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite its five-year bombing campaign in neighbouring Yemen.

The war in Yemen has killed as many as 100,000 people and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical shortages.

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