NGOs warn France over suspected arms shipment to S Arabia

PARIS: Human rights groups said on Wednesday that a cargo ship could soon dock in France to pick up weapons for Saudi Arabia’s offensive in Yemen, urging French officials to ensure the arms will not be used to target civilians.

NGOs had succeeded in preventing the same Bahri Yanbu vessel from docking in France last May, when it was set to receive a weapons shipment for Riyadh that sparked an outcry among activists.

France has come under fire for maintaining arms sales to the Saudi government even as it pursues a nearly five-year offensive against Huthi rebels, supported by Iran. The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, most of them civilians, according to nongovernmental groups. The UN has classified the Yemen war as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

A group of 17 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch and Oxfam France said the Bahri Yanbu, would dock in Cherbourg on France’s northern coast on Thursday, with stops also scheduled in Sheerness, Britain, and in Genoa, Italy.

They called on France to identify what would be loaded onto the Bahri Yanbu, which they say has an exclusive contract with the Saudi defence ministry. If they are weapons, the NGOs demand "the guarantees France has that they will not be used illegally against Yemeni civilians."