German govt halts arms exports to parties in Yemen war

Germany has said it won’t approve arms exports to countries involved in the conflict in Yemen. The move could affect sales of military hardware to Saudi Arabia, AP said. During preliminary coalition talks last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Union bloc and the Social Democrats agreed to “immediately” stop approving arms exports to countries involved in the conflict. Berlin “isn’t taking any arms export decisions right now that aren’t in line with the results of the preliminary talks,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted on Friday. Earlier in the day, however, officials said that the practice of scrutinizing export applications on a case-by-case basis hadn’t changed. Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government in its war with Houthi rebels, is a major buyer of German arms.