Gulf chill over UK fighter sales
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Version 0 of 1. If there were any remaining doubts that arms sales take precedence over human rights or concerns about exacerbating regional tensions, the British government has been unashamedly quashing them. UK prime minister David Cameron and his defence secretary Philip Hammond have been busy trying to persuade the rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to buy British Typhoon jets, following the example of Saudi Arabia and Oman. The Saudis, the UK's largest arms customer, have bought 72 Typhoons, and the Omanis 12 in a deal backed by a UK government guaranteed loan of £2bn. British ministers have been engaged in intensive talks with Bahrain over the sale of 12 Typhoon in a deal worth more than £1bn. Cameron recently met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, in an attempt to persuade the UAE to buy 60 Typhoons in a deal valued at more than £6bn. The UAE now seem to be having second thoughts, with a deal, expected to be announced before the end of the year, now reported to be "on hold". British officials suggest it is simply because the UAE are being canny, being hard to get as the French are also in the market – trying to persuade the Gulf state to buy their Rafale aircraft instead of the Typhoon. Seasoned observers of the Gulf scene, however, say there is more to it than that. The UAE, along with other Gulf states, have been being making friendly overtures to Iran following the election of that country's new president and the prospect of a deal on its nuclear programme. They may not want to sign what would seem to be a provocative arms deal with a western country. Gulf states may soon realise that they don't actually need the Typhoons – what they may need more urgently are weapons for use in internal repression... Sarah Waldron, of CAAT, the campaign against the arms trade, said: "The crackdown in Bahrain has intensified, yet the UK does not speak out against the abuses that are daily committed by government forces". (The Commons foreign affairs committee merely noted in a recent report that while defence cooperation and arms sales with Bahrain had "proved controversial" since the violent events of 2011, it was "persuaded that Bahrain provides an immensely valuable home in the Gulf for UK naval assets which would be difficult to find elsewhere".) CAAT noted that in March 2011 Saudi Arabia employed British manufactured BAE Tactica armoured vehicles in Bahrain to support the Bahrain government crackdown on protesters. (The Commons committee simply described Saudi Arabia as " important to the UK's defence, security and commercial interests.") The government says the Typhoon deals with Gulf states will protect thousands of jobs at a time when other buyers for British arms – including the Ministry of Defence itself – are slashing their order books. It also argues that if Britain does not sell fighters to then Gulf, then someone else – ie the French – will. But the market for Typhoons seems very precarious and the British arms industry in danger of placing too many eggs in too few baskets. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |