Germany exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia and UAE

Germany's National Security Council, a secret security council consisting of Chancellor Angela Merkel and her chief ministers, has approved shipments of weapons parts to countries directly involved in the war in Yemen, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to several German media sources.

The approvals come two weeks after the German government extended a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which was originally put in place after the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.That extension, however, made a conditional exception for systems developed jointly with other countries amid anger at the German ban among some European partners, notably France and Britain.

Read more: Arms exports: Germany trails US as world's fourth-largest supplier

Shipments approved

• The security council approved a shipment of "technology for low-bed semi-trailer production" from the Ulm-based company Kamag to France, which will then send a finished product to Saudi Arabia.
• Further exports will go to the UAE, including German-French-produced accessories for "Cobra" artillery tracking radar systems. 
• A shipment of three "Dingo" armored vehicles and 168 warheads to Qatar was also approved.
• Other shipments include 92 electric drives for the "Fuchs" armored personnel carrier to Algeria, 18,000 detonators for mortar grenades to Indonesia and 3,000 anti-tank weapons to Singapore.

Opposition criticism

The Left reacted with outrage to the decisions taken by the security council.

"Apparently things are not going fast enough with new arms deliveries to the Yemen war coalition," said the Left's deputy parliamentary leader, Sevim Dagdelen. She described the approvals as "simply criminal and a violation of current European law."

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