Weapons supplies to the Arabian Peninsula remain one of the issues surrounding German exports. The background is the ongoing conflicts in the region. Now, the Federal Security Council has approved the export of parts of a missile system into the Gulf Emirate of Qatar.

According to a letter from Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) to the Economic Committee of the Bundestag, four shooting stations and 85 steering seekers for the system RAM GMLS, which is intended for the defense of ships.

The manufacturers are the defense companies MBDA and Diehl Defense. The editorial network Germany and the news agency dpa report on the letter.

The Federal Security Council, which meets secretly under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), includes all ministers involved in security matters. Exports approved by the Panel will be reported to the Bundestag immediately. The value of the delivery was not mentioned by Altmaier in this case, in order to avoid conclusions on individual prices.

Criticism of the Left and Greens

Left and Greens criticized arms exports to Qatar. The federal government was "a notorious repeat offender", because they simply could not leave to export arms in crisis regions, said the left-defense expert Alexander Neu. "That's the opposite of responsible foreign policy."

Similarly, the green arms expert Katja Keul said: "Given the tensions in the region, especially with Saudi Arabia, the federal government should not upgrade Qatar," she said. "Alone the alarming human rights situation in Qatar is reason enough not to deliver weapons there."

Only a few days ago, another controversial decision of the Federal Security Council was known. According to SPIEGEL information, the Council allowed the arms company Rheinmetall to present one of its latest tank models for promotional purposes on a national holiday military show in Qatar.

Human rights violations and enmity with Saudi Arabia

The small but rich gulf emirate has been accused of human rights violations for years. It also concerns the working conditions of migrants - for example, the construction of the football stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Hundreds of people are said to have already lost their lives.

However, arms deliveries to the Arabian Peninsula are also controversial due to the conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The two states are enemies, the tensions between them have worsened especially since the summer of 2017. At that time, Riyadh, along with other states such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had imposed a blockade on Qatar and broken all diplomatic ties.

The blockade states accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism. But Saudi Arabia is also angry at Qatar's aggressive foreign policy and its good relations with Shiite Iran, the archenemy of the Sunni royal house in Riyadh. Qatar's news channel Al-Jazeera also offers votes a platform that criticize the Saudi policy.

In 2018, less armaments exports from Germany

Arms exports to Saudi Arabia were stopped by the German government in the wake of the affair surrounding the killing of anti-government journalist Jamal Khashoggi in November. Rheinmetall now demands damages for the delivery stop.

The kingdom also falls under a clause of the coalition agreement. According to this, Germany is not allowed to deliver armaments to countries directly involved in the Yemen war. In the conflict, Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition. However, in the clause of the Grand Coalition, a back door was left open for already authorized shops.

Overall, the value of armaments exports approved by the federal government in 2018 has fallen sharply. It fell by 22.7 percent: from 6.242 to 4.824 billion euros.