• REVEALED: Both sides of Gulf crisis listed as ’priority markets’ for UK arms export push | Middle East Eye
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/revealed-both-sides-gulf-dispute-listed-priority-market-uk-arms-11274

    The UK government is being accused of fanning the flames of the Gulf crisis after it included both sides of the dispute in a newly published list of countries identified by officials as “priority markets” for the UK’s £12bn defence industry, Middle East Eye can reveal.

    Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain are listed alongside regional rival Qatar on a list of 46 nations highlighted by Whitehall officials as potentially lucrative markets for weapons.

    The list, which has been seen by MEE, comes on the eve of the world’s largest arms fair in London next week. It signals a dramatic expansion in efforts to boost arms sales to the Middle East in the wake of the Brexit vote.

    In addition to including both sides of the Gulf crisis, which has divided the region for three months, the list of countries to be to be targeted for sales by officials of the Department for International Trade’s Defence and Security Organisation includes a string of Middle East states on the UK government’s own “human rights priority registers”.

    Concern for human rights?

    Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have all been named priority arms export markets by the Department for International Trade despite being listed by the Foreign Office as a “human rights priority”.

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