German FM To Visit Yemen, Saudi Arabia For Political Talks

Berlin, March 10, IRNA -- German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is to embark Saturday on a two-day visit to Yemen and Saudi Arabia for political talks, officials said here Friday. Westerwelle is to meet with his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr al-Kirby and the new Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi in Sanaa, Deputy Foreign Ministry Spoeksman Martin Schaefer told the press. Meanwhile, the German minister is to hold high-level talks in Riyadh on Saturday, among them Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Secretary General of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani. The meeting will dwell on the latest developments in the Middle East. According to the German Press Agency DPA, it was unclear if Westerwelle would address the highly controversial sale of more than 200 Leopard 2 combat tanks to the Persian Gulf kingdom. The German government has repeatedly refused to comment on the deal, citing confidentiality. More than 100 German peace, church and labor union organizations have joined the German opposition parties in warning against the sale of tanks to the dictatorial Saudi regime. They have expressed strong concern over the secretive nature of the arms agreement, saying that these tanks could be used to crush the internal dissent in either Saudi Arabia or in neighboring Bahrain, where Riyadh has been playing a key role in brutally smashing a popular uprising since March 2011. German-made weapons have been massively deployed into the Middle East and North Africa to smash peaceful protests, according to a report published by the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI). German arms exports included small firearms, ammunition and military vehicles which were used to squash popular demonstrations./end