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French Weapons Used In War on Yemen: Disclose

French Weapons Used In War on Yemen: Disclose
folder_openEurope... access_time4 years ago
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By Staff, Agencies

French arms including tanks and laser-guided missile systems sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are being used in the Yemeni war against civilians, leaked intelligence published by investigative website Disclose showed.

Titled “Yemen: Security situation,” a 15-page classified report written by France’s DRM military intelligence agency includes maps that detail the positioning of French-made weapons inside Yemen and on the Saudi side of the border.

It demonstrates that swaths of Yemen’s population live under the threat of the French-made arms, according to Disclose.

The leaked report will be awkward for President Emmanuel Macron and his government, which has claimed that as far as it knows French-made arms sold to Saudi Arabia are used solely for ‘defensive purposes on the border.’

The intelligence document states that Caesar cannons, manufactured by French company Nexter and deployed along the Saudi-Yemeni frontier, back up “Saudi armed forces in their progression into Yemeni territory.”

The intelligence dossier is dated Sept. 25, 2018. It was presented to Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, as well as France’s defense and foreign ministers.

The Disclose report was part of an investigation carried out with Mediapart, Konbini, France Inter radio, Arte television and US-based The Intercept.

France is a signatory of the UN Arms Trade Treaty that regulates the international trade of conventional weapons and bans the sale of weapons that fuel human rights violations or war crimes.

Philippe’s office said in a statement that France adopted rigorous safeguards when issuing export licenses and supported UN efforts to broker peace in Yemen.

It did not question the authenticity of the documents and neither confirmed nor denied the Disclose report, claiming that France was not aware of Yemeni civilians being killed by French arms.

The Defense Ministry, which oversees the DRM, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Saudi and UAE government communication offices and a spokesman for the Arab-led coalition in Yemen did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The 4-year-old conflict in Yemen has shattered its economy and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the UN says. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and some 10 million people have been driven to the brink of famine.

A second, six-page DRM intelligence report distributed more widely, according to Disclose, showed that French-made tanks were deployed in bases including Mokha, Aden, Al-Khawkhah and Marib. Disclose said its study of satellite images, video and photographs taken by civilians revealed some Leclerc tanks bought by the UAE had taken part in coalition offensives, including the campaign for control of the port of Hudaydah.

The six-page report also said that UAE Mirage fighter jets were equipped with a laser-guided system made by Thales known as Damocles that it said were possibly being used in Yemen.

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