Germany extended a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia by six months but made concessions to allies like France and the United Kingdom, which will be allowed to ship weapons produced in cooperation with German manufacturers.
The embargo will be extended until September 30, government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said late Thursday following a meeting of Germany’s Federal Security Council.
Germany imposed the embargo in October after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but the measure has annoyed France and Britain, whose giant arms makers use German components. The ban caused a row in the ruling coalition between the center-right CDU, which had been arguing in favor of lifting the ban, and the center-left SPD, which had been pushing for an extension.
Seibert said the compromise reached Thursday would lift certain restrictions on joint European arms projects to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates: “Expired joint projects and their associated collective export authorizations related to Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be extended for a further period of nine months until 31 December 2019, subject to the requirement for consultation with partners during this period.”
Seibert added that the German government will advocate during these consultations “that the jointly produced arms are not used in the Yemen war and that during the nine-month extension no end-assembled armaments from these joint programs will be delivered to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”