Amnesty calls for halt to arms sales to Saudi-led coalition
Posted February 6, 2019 1:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CAIRO — An international rights group has urged Western governments to stop supplying weapons to parties to the conflict in Yemen after reports that they were ending up in the hands of extremist groups.
Amnesty International’s arms control and human rights researcher Patrick Wilcken said in a statement Wednesday that “the proliferation of unaccountable, UAE-backed militias is worsening the humanitarian crisis and posing a growing threat to the civilian population.”
Wilcken says American and British weapons have ended up in the hands of al-Qaida and Islamic State militants, in reference to recent reports by the Amman-based Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism.
The Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, has been at war in Yemen with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels since 2015.
The Associated Press
