II. Arms transfers to the Middle East and North Africa, and the military intervention in Yemen

Chapter:

15. International arms transfers

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2016

Author(s):

Siemon T. Wezeman

States in the Middle East accounted for 25 per cent of global imports in 2011–15, making it the second largest importing region for that period. The combined total volume of arms transfers to the Middle East and North Africa accounted for 30 per cent of global arms transfers in 2011–15.¹ The largest arms importers in the Middle East and North Africa in that period were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which, respectively, were the second and fourth largest arms importers globally. Together, they accounted for 38 per cent of arms imports to the Middle East and North Africa in 2011–15. No state in the Middle East and North Africa has so far developed an indigenous arms industry that can fulfil the national arms procurement programmes in those regions. Therefore, all the states in the Middle East and North Africa are heavily dependent on arms imports.