European concern grown over UAE’s involvement in foreign conflicts and increasing military deals

The European Microscope on Middle East Issues said that European parliamentary and human rights bodied are growing anxious about the UAE’s involvement in foreign military interventions, especially in Yemen and Libya.

The European Microscope – a European institution concerned with monitoring the interactions of Middle East issues in Europe – stated that European circles are observing with great concern the UAE’s increasing military arsenal in the service of separatist militias that provoke chaos and divisions in a number of countries in the Middle East.

He pointed to the escalating demands from human rights organizations to the necessity of tightening European countries to stop the export of military equipment to the UAE against the background of its war crimes against civilians in Yemen, Libya and other countries.

The UAE’s tendency to boost the status of arms production and trade during the past decade was noted for several reasons, including reducing Western pressure, amid accusations that it is pursuing the impact of its deals on crises in the region, such as Libya.

In the arms trade, Abu Dhabi relied on two tracks, the first of which was to consolidate relations with related companies, investment or marketing, and the restructuring of the defense sector.

The UAE has close cooperation relations with European arms companies, and it is investing a large part of its vast wealth in the American military industries sector as part of a deal to provide diplomatic support and Western cover for Abu Dhabi’s regional policies.

Emirati cooperation with Israel has also emerged through the portal of an Israeli businessman located in Switzerland, through an estimated $800 million deal that includes surveillance cameras and security equipment.

There are several considerations governing the UAE’s tendency to build this type of partnership relations with international arms companies, some of which concern the UAE at home, while others relate to the Emirati regional project and “independence of foreign policy”, where Abu Dhabi wants to avoid the arms embargo that European countries are exercising on its sales, This is what drives it to partner with arms companies.

The UAE’s share of the capital in these companies precludes the issuance of an executive decision from the company to comply with the embargo, and the partnership with international arms companies and the marketing of their products also represents a brake on the ability of Western governments to pressure the UAE to stop arming the warring parties.

The UAE has ranked number 8 globally among the largest arms importers in the world during the past 5 years (2015-2019). During the same period, the UAE imported 3.4 percent of global arms imports, and the United States acquired 68 percent of the UAE’s arms imports.

The UAE is organizing international exhibitions with arms, to consolidate its leaders ’relations with producing companies such as: IDEX, NavDEX, Yumex, Simtex, which is held regularly every two years in partnership with the General Command of the UAE Armed Forces.

The majority of arms companies in the world participate, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon of America, and French Thales, along with military delegations, some of which are high-level, where the level of representation is the position of the Secretary of Defense or the Chief of Staff.

According to Atlantic American magazine, new policies started since 2015 in the Arab region, led by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE, whose fundamental goal is to prevent the return of the Arab Spring revolutions completely.