11/6/19
The awkward camera angle is meant to hide the fact that the owner of the phone is filming, but there is no mistaking the outlines of the heavy cargo being deposited on the dock in the Yemeni port of Aden last week. The distinctive shape of the US-made Oshkosh armored vehicle stands out in the early morning darkness, a piece of military hardware that is currently at the heart of a standoff between some American lawmakers and President Donald Trump's administration. Aden is controlled by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, whose main partners are continuing to ship American-made weapons into the country despite bipartisan outrage in Congress over the way the US is backing Riyadh in this bloody and bitter conflict. Using whistleblower accounts and port documents CNN has identified the ship which offloaded the US weaponry in Aden last week as the Saudi-registered Bahri Hofuf. Looking at tracking data, the vessel's last recorded location was in the Saudi port of Jeddah on September 17, before it sailed to Port Sudan, arriving the following day. After this, the boat's tracking system was switched off, before it appeared again under the cover of darkness in Aden on October 29. Secrecy surrounds the flow of weaponry to Yemen's conflict that as of October 31 has killed more than 100,000 people since 2015.
In February, a CNN investigation revealed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE -- key US allies -- had transferred American-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked fighters, hardline Salafi militias, and other fighting factions in Yemen, in violation of their agreements with Washington. Oshkosh Defense, the manufacturer of one of the armored vehicles (MRAPs) seen in the latest shipment, told CNN that the firm "strictly follows all US laws and regulations relating to export control." The 2014 deal signed by the UAE with the US was worth $2.5 billion and required the delivery of 4,500 MRAPs. Under the UAE and Saudi Arabia's arms sales agreements with the US, American-made MRAPs are considered "proprietary technology," which neither party was supposed to let out of its control. Recipients of US weaponry are also legally obligated to adhere to end-use requirements which prohibit the transferring of any equipment to third parties without prior authorization from the US government. That authorization was never obtained.
