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Yemeni pro-government forces are gathered outside Hodeida on November 10, 2018. Khaled Ziad / AFP
Finland has announced that it is suspending all new arms contracts to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A reaction to the actions of both countries at the head of a military coalition very involved in the Yemeni conflict, but it is also a reaction to the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi who could have been sponsored by the Saudi royal family. It is the fourth European country to make this decision.
Finland has decided to follow Germany , Norway and Denmark on their position. The country will no longer sell arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Two months ago a Finnish news site broadcast a video showing armored vehicles manufactured by the Nordic countries used by the Emirati in western Yemen. Some were equipped with heavy Russian weapons. In Yemen, the conflict between rebels and loyalist forces strongly supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE has killed 10,000 people in three years. The clashes and bombings are not over. Yemen is facing one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world.
It took this death, that of Washington Post editorialist Jamal Khashoggi murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, so that some European countries stop, for a time anyway, to provide the weapons of this conflict. " The situation in Yemen is at the origin of this decision, " said the Finnish Prime Minister, while acknowledging that the death of Jamal Khashoggi was part of "general logic". "
→ RELIRE: Can France do without arms sales to Saudi Arabia?