Egypt ‘tripled’ arms imports from Italy in 2019

Egypt bought three times more weapons, ammunition, spare parts and military software from Italy last year compared with 2018, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has reported. According to an official document, this was at a cost of €238.5 million compared with €69.1m the previous year.

The Egyptian purchases included new weapons worth more than €97m and €141m worth of spare parts for equipment, software and accessories. Egypt thus ranked fourth behind Kuwait, Qatar and Germany in the list of importers of Italian arms.

In June, Human Rights Watch called on Italy to end arms sales to Egypt. The NGO cited human rights violations committed by the Egyptian security forces against political opponents, peaceful protesters and even bystanders, using weapons purchased from European Union member states.

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