The Belgian Council of State explained its decision by the failure of the authorities in the country’s French-speaking Wallonia, which had issued the permits, to first examine the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
Four export licences was issued by the Walloon regional government for sales of weapon to Saudi Arabia.
The suspension of arms export to Saudi came after French-speaking Human Rights League and the pacifist organizations (CNAPD) have brought complaint to condemn the war crimes and violations committed against the Yemeni people by Saudi-led coalition warplanes.
Saudi Arabia is a major customer for Walloon arms maker, with sales in 2017 of €153 million.
In December 2017, the Belgian Human Rights League and the National Peace and Democracy Coordination Center, backed by Amnesty International, appealed to the State Council to annul licenses for the export of lethal arms to the Gulf kingdom.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia bought more than 575 million euros worth of arms made by FN Herstal, which accounts for a hefty 65 percent of Wallonia’s arms exports.
In September 2017, the European Parliament approved a resolution calling on the EU to impose an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, which is accused of supplying the weapons it buys in Europe to terrorists in Syria and using them in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition conducting airstrikes in Yemen includes air forces from Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. The Saudi war started in March 2015.
Saudi Arabia has also imposed a blockade on Yemen, which has smothered humanitarian deliveries of food and medicine to the import-dependent state.
Several Western countries are supplying the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment.
