see url:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-04-16-bae-systems-sold-weaponry-worth-17-6bn-to-saudis-during-yemen-war/
see full report...
Quote<<<
Britain’s largest arms company, BAE Systems, has sold £17.6-billion
worth of aircraft, weapons and services to the Saudi military since
2015, when Riyadh began bombing Yemen.
The new figures, included in BAE’s latest annual report, reveal the
company made £2.6-billion in revenues from the Saudi military last year
alone, a small rise on 2019.
The sales went ahead despite a temporary UK government embargo on new
arms licences for the Yemen war during the first six months of 2020.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) believes that BAE’s total sales to
Saudi Arabia over the six years of conflict could be worth £19-billion,
when cybersecurity deals and the company’s share in a missile
manufacturer, MBDA, are included.
The revelation comes amid ongoing secrecy over the extent of the UK
government’s support for the powerful arms company, which has long been
embroiled in the Yemen war — the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
BAE met Liam Fox, who was then Britain’s international trade secretary,
to discuss relations with Riyadh four weeks after journalist Jamal
Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi officials on 2 October 2018. Khashoggi
had recently called for an end to the “cruel war” in Yemen.
CAAT has spent over two years trying to obtain full records from that
meeting through freedom of information requests, asking to see copies of
the minutes, briefing notes and other correspondence.
The group argues disclosure is necessary because the war in Yemen “has
killed over 100,000 people as a direct result of military action,
including more than 12,000 civilians”.
CAAT adds that airstrikes on “food production and infrastructure
suggested the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war — which
would also constitute a war crime”.
Last month the UK’s Information Commissioner noted there was “an urgent
need for informed public debate on this issue, given the terrible and
tragic suffering being inflicted on the Yemeni people”.
However, the Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, ruled that the Department
for International Trade (DIT) could keep censoring parts of the
paperwork on the BAE-Fox meeting, as it was more important to protect
British trade with the Gulf.
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