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Arab union calls on EU to withdraw ban on weapons sales to Saudi

February 29, 2016 at 1:30 pm

Arab Inter-parliamentary Union (AIPU) has called on the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) to withdraw a motion banning its members from selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.

The EPU voted in favour of a weapons sales ban on Saudi Arabia on Thursday. According to the motion, which is not binding, member states must stop selling weapons to Saudi, which is taking part in a war against rebel groups in Yemen.

In a statement the AIPU said it is “illogical for the EPU to vote for this strange and illogical motion,” calling for the EPU to withdraw it based on the relationship which connects the Arab nations with Europe, as well as on the facts on the ground in Yemen.

The EPU should have hailed the Saudi role in Yemen instead of calling to embargo weapons sales, the statement continued, noting that this “strange” move did not depend on “precise” information especially with regards accusations that Saudi kills civilians in Yemen.

“Everyone knows that the Arabic-Islamic intervention in Yemen was requested by the legitimate President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to fight the Houthis, who carried out a coup.

“Such calls strengthen the illegal groups and encourage them to carry out coups against legal governments in their countries,” AIPU said. “Such decisions should be taken against certain countries whose military interface causes the death of hundreds of civilians every day.”