German peace and church groups to mobilize against Saudi tank deal

Berlin, Nov. 1, IRNA -- Around 80 German peace and church groups are to unveil a nationwide campaign later this week aimed at stopping the sale of of some 200 Leopard 2 battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, according to IRNA. Led by the former head of Germany's Protestant Church Margot Kaessmann, the mobilization is to highlight the problematic tank deal. German peace and church organizations have been very concerned over the secretive nature of the highly controversial sale, saying these tanks could be used to crush internal dissent in either Saudi Arabia or neighboring Bahrain where Riyadh played a lead role in smashing a popular uprising in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom in March. Weapons from Germany have been massively deployed in the Middle East and North Africa to smash peaceful protests, according to a recent report published by the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International (AI). German arms exports included small firearms, ammunition and military vehicles which were used to squash demonstrations. According to AI arms expert Matthias John, these weapon deliveries were authorized by the German government, even though there was a significant risk that they would be misused to violate human rights. The AI study focused on arms deliveries to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. The most important arms exporting nations included Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Britain, Italy, Austria, Russia, the Czech Republic and the US. Germany's overall arms export to the Near-and Middle East hovered reportedly around 1.1 billion euros last year. In 2009, the United Arab Emirates was among the three leading recipients of German weapons, according to a report released by the center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany sold around 540.7 million euros worth of military hardware to the UAE, among them radar and steering systems, torpedoes, simulators, missiles, hand grenades, armored vehicles, tank spare parts, automatic cannons, amphibious vehicles and trucks. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was listed sixth in the overall export of German weaponry with 167.9 million euros. German military gadgetry to the Arabian country included airplanes, spare parts for combat jets, missile parts, refueling aircraft, grenades, sea mine removal instruments and communication systems. German arms sales to the UAE reached 846 million euros between 2006 and 2009, while weapon exports to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain stood at 441 million and 184 million euros respectively during the same corresponding period. Critics have slammed German arms exports to the volatile Middle East region since the German constitution bans the sales of weapons to a crisis area./end