Tribune. What is the link between the Emirati Mohammed Ben Zayed Al-Nahyane, the Saudi Arabian Mohammed Ben Salman and the Egyptian Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi? These three political leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war in Yemen, Egypt and Libya. They are at the same time the main customers of the French armaments industries, such as Airbus, Arquus, Dassault, MBDA, Naval Group, Nexter, Safran, Thales, etc.
The latest report from the United Nations Development Program estimates the number of direct and indirect deaths due to the war in Yemen, putting forward the appalling figure of more than 370,000 deaths at the end of 2021. Their misfortune is over. to be Yemenis and not to bear an illustrious name like that of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, also assassinated by Mohamed Ben Salman’s henchmen.
But the war between the Houthis and a government whose legitimacy is widely disputed is mainly waged by a coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Repeated calls from the UN Security Council to belligerents to respect international law have also gone unheeded.
The alerts of the United Nations Group on Yemen, composed of eminent experts, noting that “Arms sales are the fuel that prolongs the conflict”, are superbly ignored by the French and British governments.
The government lied
Lastly, the appeals from parliamentarians and NGOs, including Republican Ethical Security Action (ASER), on systematic and persistent violations of the 1949 Geneva Convention, deliberate attacks against civilians, crimes against humanity, etc. do nothing. The French government, in full knowledge of these serious violations of international law, continues to support Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt with its arms sales.
The “secret-defense” note produced by the investigative media Disclose shows not only that the French government is aware of the use of French weapons, but in addition that it lied to parliamentarians and citizens living in France.
It is no longer in this XXIe century of asking President Macron that the question of human rights be raised publicly, as if years of communications from French presidents had not shown the limits of the genre.
The declarations of the Ministers of the Armed Forces and of Europe and of Foreign Affairs constantly repeat that this government respects France’s international commitments, while they outrageously violate, and in full knowledge of Article 6 of the Treaty on the trade of weapons of the United Nations in the war in Yemen, as well as in Egypt, with the sale of control and interception equipment that allowed the arrest and torture of human rights defenders, as shown Disclose.
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