US Urged to Stop Drone Sales to UAE over Civilian Deaths in Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Amnesty International called on the United States to stop the sale of 18 sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in light of evidence that civilians are being killed during attacks in war-ravaged Yemen and Libya.
Philippe Nassif, the advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty, said in a statement on Monday that the US risked "complicity in likely war crimes in Yemen".
"The startling fact that the United States government continues its unflinching support of providing weapons that risk adding to the devastating toll of Yemeni civilians... should shake to the core every person living in this country," Nassif said, the Middle East Eye reported.
"The United States must resolutely refrain from supplying weapons that could be used in the conflict and not transfer weaponry to the UAE, or risk complicity in likely war crimes in Yemen."
The US State Department gave Congress notification of the planned $2.9bn sale last week, and the move comes on the heels of a previous notification of a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to the UAE.
The nearly $3bn sale would mark the first armed drone export since the Trump administration reinterpreted a Cold War-era arms agreement between 34 nations to allow US defense contractors to sell more drones to allies.
"These US drones could be responsible for UAE attacks that violate international humanitarian law and kill, as well as injure, thousands of Yemeni civilians already bearing the brunt of one of the world's most devastating humanitarian catastrophes," Nassif added.
The Saudi-led war has seen more than 100,000 people killed, an estimated four million displaced and left 80 percent of the country's 29 million people dependent on aid for survival.
The UN has declared it the "world's worst humanitarian crisis", as airstrikes have hampered access to health care and increased pressure on the few facilities that are still functioning.
Amnesty also said that it acquired extensive evidence that the UAE used armed drones in Libya, in breach of a longstanding UN arms embargo.
"Drones have been used to target civilian homes and health facilities, including field hospitals and ambulances," Amnesty said, referring to Libya.