(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"Did you hear that?" Says my mother-in-law with horror in her voice. All of a sudden, the war in Yemen is in our own living room in Norway. On the poor mobile line between Yemen's capital Sanaa and Oslo, you can clearly hear the buzz of airplanes and the heavy noise of bombings. The explosions are noticeably close to my in-laws. The windows in their house are blown in and broken. The telephone line is broken. Both me and my wife Wojoud Mejalli from Yemen must once again live with the uncertainty. Did the same thing happen to our family as to their neighbors? The neighboring house was pulverized. Here lived a widow with five children. The widow and three of the children were killed by bombs from the Saudi-led coalition. There were no military targets near the house.
The backdrop for the war in Yemen is, among other things, that Norway has exported military equipment and ammunition for over a billion kroner to the countries that continue to bomb Yemen. By January of this year, Norway sold ammunition for 22 million to the United Arab Emirates, one of the most active parties in the bombing.
My wife and I get another restless night with no response to how the family was doing, somewhere hundreds of miles away from safe and peaceful Oslo. We can't help but wonder if it was the sound of Norwegian rockets or ammunition we heard hitting close to our family before the line was broken.
We are glad that exports have now been halted, but we still wonder that this has not been done before.
Revealed the sale one year ago. Ny Tid was the first newspaper to write that Norway had sold ammunition to the warring country of the United Arab Emirates. The first article was published in March 2015, and the last in April 2016. The Emirates is the second most active party in the war in Yemen – after Saudi Arabia. The Emirates has deployed both ground forces and participated in the massive air bombing of the country. The coalition the Emirates is part of, has killed many civilians and systematically violated the international law of war. They have bombed Médecins Sans Frontières hospitals, a blind center for children, densely populated civilian housing estates, UN refugee camps, densely populated marketplaces, water bottle factories and historic old World Heritage sites. SV has always marked itself against arms sales. Bård Vegar Solhjell, parliamentary representative for SV and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has the following to say about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs now stopping ammunition sales to the Emirates:
"It's positive, and came in the wake of New Age's revelations, just a day or two later. The obvious next step is to stop all trade to the countries participating in the Saudi-led coalition. We do not want any trade with those countries as long as this war is going on, "said the former minister. The air bombardment of Yemen has been unparalleled in modern history, led by rich, authoritarian regimes with the most modern weapons in the world. Nor has there been a lack of willingness to spend money on the military. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest importer of weapons, closely followed by the Emirates in fourth place.
"Norwegian ammo does not belong in this war." The Red Cross has been critical of the fact that Norway has sold weapons and ammunition to the Emirates. Mads Harlem is the leader of the International Law Section of the Red Cross. He says this about the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now turned its back on Norwegian ammunition to the Emirates:
"It is good and high time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has for a long time defended the sale by saying that the Emirates supports the incumbent president in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, and that exports are therefore not covered by the Storting's decision not to sell a-materiel (weapons and ammunition) to land. which is war or where war threatens. However, the Red Cross has emphasized to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a long time that Norway can in any case not sell weapons or ammunition to countries where this is used to attack, for example, civilians or hospitals. It is contrary to Norway's obligations under international law, "says Harlem. "We have therefore been very critical of Norwegian exports to the Emirates, since there are a number of heavy reports that show that war crimes are being committed by all parties to the conflict in Yemen, including the Emirates. In such a war, Norwegian ammunition has nothing to do. We are pleased that exports have now stopped, but we are still surprised that this has not been done before, since the suspicions of the Emirates' attack on the civilian population in Yemen existed long before January 2016. "
When Ny Tid wrote about the ammunition sale no later than April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that they thought the sale was okay and within the Norwegian regulations. When Dagbladet shortly afterwards made a case about the export of ammunition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had suddenly turned around completely, and said that they would stop the sale in January 2016.
"Should have stricter control." Mads Harlem believes that the Norwegian media must become better at picking up forgotten crises. He is surprised that none of the major newspapers in Norway have been more prominent when it comes to Norwegian ammunition sales to the warring country of the Emirates.
"Therefore, I think it is great that Ny Tid brought up the case. When there is a small newspaper in Norway that picks up like that – how many other such cases do we have to reckon with the larger newspapers not seeing? All homage to New Time that captures this,» says Harlem. He believes that stricter regulations are needed to ensure that Norwegian weapons and ammunition do not end up in wars and used against civilians:
"If we are to be able to prevent similar sales from happening in the future, it is important that Norway puts in place clear provisions in the Norwegian export control regulations that prohibit the export of weapons and ammunition to countries that can use this to commit war crimes or serious human rights violations. This does not exist today, "says Harlem, who is a lawyer with international law and law as a special field. «The consideration of the export control report for 2014 shows that there is a majority in the Storting to include such prohibition provisions in Norwegian legislation. I therefore assume that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will now start this work immediately. Such prohibition provisions will be an important signal to other countries that have approved the international arms trade agreement that they must implement this agreement in their national legislation on arms exports. "
Will stop sales to Saudi Arabia. In Yemen, the war is still raging, but international peace talks are being worked on. At the same time, SV and Bård Vegar Solhjell are working to ensure that countries such as Saudi Arabia, which systematically violate human rights, are not allowed to buy Norwegian military equipment or weapons:
We can not help but wonder if it was the sound of Norwegian rockets or ammunition we heard crashing near our family before the line was broken.
"Regardless of the Yemeni war, the next question is whether we should trade defense equipment with countries such as Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Bahrain. The human rights situation in these countries is so bad that we should not sell to them. There is a great risk that we participate in the oppression of the population where the defense can be used in this way. "Saudi Arabia is a major exporter of extremism through its Wahhabi ideology and heavy funding of mosques and Koranic schools around the world," said Solhjell.
"For God's sake, no more weapons." The phone rings again. There is a sigh of relief through Wojoud when she hears her mother's voice: "Luckily it went well this time, but it's horrible for us to live like that. We are all traumatized and live in constant fear, "says my mother-in-law on a mobile phone from Sanaa.
Our family has been lucky so far. They live, unlike the neighbors some houses away. They say that the last thing they need now is for some of the parties in the war to get more weapons and ammunition, and that they are happy that ammunition sales from Norway have been stopped. My in-laws do not belong to any group or party, they just want the end of the war. They say that everyone knows someone who has lost their life in the war. According to UN figures, more than 3000 civilians have been killed and 21 million need emergency aid and starvation in Yemen. As the phone call nears its end, we still hear the rumble of planes flying over Sanaa. My mother-in-law concludes: “All we need is peace now, so we can live our lives. For God's sake, no more bombs, no more rockets, no more weapons. This madness must end. "
Also read:
Norwegian military equipment behind the attack in Yemen
War nation Norway and the war in Yemen
"Norway helps dictators"
War crimes with Norwegian ammunition?
Nordmann among bombs and casualties in Yemen
«Norwegian authorities lack spine»
