Amnesty International accuses UAE of arming militias that have committed war crimes in Yemen

SANAA, Feb. 6 (YPA) – Amnesty International has accused The United Arab Emirates (UAE)  of providing weapons to militias accused of committing rights abuses.

According to toAmnesty International,  several European countries are accused of violating their own laws on arms exports.

The United Arab Emirates is diverting arms supplied by Western countries to “unaccountable militias accused of war crimes” in Yemen, Amnesty International reported on  Wednesday.

“Emirati forces receive billions of dollars’ worth of arms from Western states and others, only to siphon them off to militias in Yemen that answer to no-one and are known to be committing war crimes,” Amnesty said in its report on the arms diversions.

“The proliferation of these fighting forces is a recipe for disaster for Yemeni civilians who have already been killed in their thousands, while millions more are on the brink of famine as a direct result of the war,” the human rights group said.

Since 2015, Western states have supplied the UAE with at least $3.5 billion (€3 billion) worth of arms.

The UAE government Information Office has not yet responded to a request to comment on the Amnesty statement.

Earlier,  The BBC Channel conducted a photographic investigation that revealed the UAE forces depend on al-Qaeda and ISIL elements in their military operations in Taiz province, and recently these elements appeared in Hodeidah as the spearhead of the Giants.

Over the past year, the Associated Press has uncovered secret prisons run by the UAE in southern Yemen and the world was shocked on the backdrop of the stories of torture documenting the testimonies of some of the survivors.

E.M