French MPs question government over UAE abuses in Total facility in Yemen
SANAA, Dec. 13 (YPA) – Fifty-one French MPs questioned on Friday, in a letter to the Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on the existence of a military base and a detention center run by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inside “Total” the Balhaf oil facility in Shabwah province, Yemen, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
Their questions follow up on information published by The world, in November, on abuses attributed to Emirati forces on this site, and on the ongoing struggle for its control. The factory, shut down by the war in 2015, previously accounted for up to 45% of Yemen’s tax revenue, according to the paper.
In early 2019, an official of the Saudi-Emirati alliance confirmed the existence of a temporary detention center” on the Balhaf site. It was still active in early 2020, according to the testimony of the director of the province’s main hospital, which claimed to have received former prisoners with traces of atrocities.
In 2019, this overall site was the subject of a report by the Armaments Observatory, Samoffuse and Les Amis de la Terre, then questions the government in the Assembly.
“We are concerned to note that the Balhaf plant, whose main shareholder is the head of our industry, is being exploited in contravention of international law and in conventions governing the law of war,” one of the MPs said.
Most of the opposition, signatories to the letter, are former elected representatives of La Repeblic en Marche (LRM), such as Mr. Lafree and Cedric Villani, members of the Communist Party, PS and La France.
The member of MoDem and coordinator of the Defense Commission for LRM, Fabien Gutteforde, also heads the France-Yemen Friendship Group in the assembly.
The latter admits to joining the opposition, in an open letter “Raises useful questions about this gas site, a basic source of foreign exchange for Yemen at the time it was in operation.
The French controversy raged over the Balhaf facility after the Emirati forces developed new buildings at the Balhaf facility and the al-Alam Camp, the paper said.
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