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Germany extends freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia

September 19, 2019 at 11:53 am

Protesters demonstrate against selling arms to Saudi Arabia on 8 September 2017 [AlisdareHickson/Twitter]

Germany had renewed a freeze on the delivery of arms to Saudi Arabia until March 2020, DW reported a government spokesman saying yesterday.

The freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia was put in place in October last year – following the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey – and was due to last until the end of this month.

READ: Germany to extend ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she saw “no conditions, at the moment, for a changed stance” regarding Berlin’s position in relation to Saudi human rights violations.

German MPs from the Democratic Christian party, which is part of Merkel’s coalition government, requested the freeze to be brought to an end but the centre-left Social Democrats resisted.