US backlash against UAE as rights groups urge end to arms sales

Twenty-nine arms control and human rights organisations have written to the US Congress to oppose the sale of $23 billion worth of military hardware to the UAE, Reuters has reported. It is one of the largest civil society campaigns against the Gulf State.

The signatories include a number of pro-democracy organisations such as Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), founded by the late Jamal Khashoggi. They cited the UAE’s human rights abuses, alleged war crimes and destabilisation of the Middle East, arguing that arms sales to Abu Dhabi are a violation of US law.

“The hope is to stop these sales altogether,” said Seth Binder, an advocacy officer at the Project on Middle East Democracy. “But if that is not possible in the short term, this sends an important signal to the incoming Biden administration that there is a diverse group of organisations that oppose delivery of these weapons.”

The Trump administration had approved the sale of more than $23 billion in advanced weapons systems, including F-35 fighter jets and armed drones, to Abu Dhabi early last month. The sale was approved following a US-brokered normalisation agreement signed in September between the UAE and Israel.

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The letter from the rights groups, sent to lawmakers and the State Department, said the planned arms sale would fuel continued harm to civilians and exacerbate humanitarian crises in Yemen and Libya.

“In Yemen, airstrikes by the Saudi- and Emirati-led Coalition are responsible for the majority of civilian casualties as well as widespread displacement, starvation and illness brought about by the destruction of schools, hospitals, markets and other essential infrastructure and services” said the groups. “Many of these [incidents] have been cited as likely violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), potentially exposing US officials to criminal liability for aiding and abetting war crimes.”

The letter also drew attention to the UAE’s destabilising role in Libya. “The UAE has provided arms and military support to warlord Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) in direct violation of a United Nations arms embargo and stated US policy,” said the signatories, arguing that Abu Dhabi was responsible for “prolonging” the conflict.

Concerns were also raised over UAE-run secret prisons and the UAE’s transfer of US equipment to Al-Qaeda-linked fighters and other militias in Yemen. This, said the rights groups, is a “clear violation” of US end-user agreements.

Warning that the sale of arms would be a violation of US law, the signatories said that, “In light of the UAE’s record of civilian harm and human rights violations, the proposed sales violate long-standing provisions in the Foreign Assistance Act that prohibit the United States from providing arms and security assistance to perpetrators of gross human rights abuses and those restricting access to humanitarian assistance.”

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