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WASHINGTON: Twenty-nine arms management and human rights organizations have signed a letter opposing the sale of $23 billion price of missiles, fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates and asking the U.S. Congress to dam the deal.
“The hope is to stop these sales altogether,” stated Seth Binder, advocacy officer on the Project on Middle East Democracy, who spearheaded the trouble. “But if that is not possible in the short term, this sends an important signal to the incoming Biden administration that there is a diverse group of organizations that oppose delivery of these weapons.”
Three U.S. senators proposed laws to halt the sale, which incorporates drones from privately held General Atomics, Lockheed Martin Corp F-35s and missiles made by Raytheon, establishing a showdown with President Donald Trump simply weeks earlier than he is because of go away workplace.
U.S. legislation masking main arms offers permits senators to pressure votes on resolutions of disapproval. However, to enter impact the resolutions should cross the Republican-led Senate, which hardly ever breaks with Trump. They additionally should cross the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
The letter, which shall be despatched to lawmakers and the U.S. State Department, stated, “The planned arms sales to the UAE, a party to the conflicts in Yemen and Libya, would fuel continued civilian harm and further exacerbate these humanitarian crises.”
Signatories to the letter embrace human rights organizations from the area, together with the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and Mwatana for Human Rights.
The UAE embassy in Washington instructed Reuters in a press release, “Aligned closely with US interests and values, the UAE’s highly capable military is a forceful deterrent to aggression and an effective response to violent extremism.”
Disclaimer: This submit has been auto-published from an company feed with none modifications to the textual content and has not been reviewed by an editor
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