Court Eyes South African Companies Supplying Arms in Yemeni War

High Court Judge John Davis has ordered South African arms companies that have supplied weapons found to have been used against civilians in the Yemen conflict, to be made public, writes Marianne Thamm for Daily Maverick.

An investigation by Open Secrets titled Profiting from Misery - South Africa's war crimes in Yemen" revealed that weapons produced in South Africa are awash in Yemen and being used by numerous parties in that war. The report also exposed that when civil war broke out in Yemen in early 2015, South African arms companies exported weapons worth U.S.$194 million to Saudi Arabia and U.S.$328.4 million to the United Arab Emirtates. Both countries are involved in the conflict.

Since the outbreak six years ago of the bitter regionalised war in Yemen resulting in a desperate humanitarian crisis, South African arms companies have profited handsomely from the sale of weapons to parties central to the conflict.

InFocus

Yemeni capital Sanaa after airstrikes, 9 October 2015.

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