Germany To Tighten Arms Exports To S Arabia

Berlin, Feb 24, IRNA - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier here Sunday announced plans to tighten arms export rules aimed at making German weapons sales more transparent. ˈWe want to make arms exports more transparent,ˈ reiterated Steinmeier in an interview with the Hamburg-based weekly news magazine Der Spiegel. This means that in the future, tanks cannot be that easily exported to Saudi Arabia, he added. German human rights and peace groups have stepped up pressure on the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, among them a reported mega multi-billion deal to sell German submarines and tanks. Weapon sales to the Arab kingdom are a thorny issue among Germans given Riyadhˈ dismal human rights record and its role in the brutal pro-freedom crackdown in Bahrain. More than 1.2 billion euros worth of German weapons were sent to Saudi Arabia in 2012 even though the German constitution bans the sale of arms to crisis regions./end