Germany’s Merkel tells Saudis to stop war on Yemen as arms sales go on

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Riyadh to halt its military aggression against Yemen, despite Berlin continuing its arms sales to the kingdom.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Riyadh to halt its military aggression against Yemen, despite Berlin continuing its arms sales to the kingdom.

“We believe in the UN-led process of diplomatic resolution…We do not think that there can be a military solution to this conflict,” said Merkel during a visit to the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Sunday.

She added that measures must be taken to reverse the “extremely bad humanitarian situation” in Yemen.

This as an agreement was signed for Saudi troops to receive training from German soldiers at unified armed forces facilities.

A separate deal was also made for German federal police to instruct and train Saudi border police and other security forces.  

Germany, one of the kingdom’s largest arms suppliers, sold Saudi Arabia around half a billion euros worth of armaments in 2016. Earlier this month, Berlin also approved millions of dollars worth of arms sales to the United Arab Emirates which is assisting Saudi Arabia in its onslaught against Yemen.