Bahraini protesters run for cover from tear gas during clashes with riot police following an anti-regime demo heading to “Pearl Square” in the village of Daih, west of capital Manama yesterday.
WASHINGTON: Human rights activists yesterday called on the US administration to withhold arms sales to Bahrain and draw up a new strategy towards the key Gulf ally to push it to implement long-delayed reforms.
The appeal came ahead of a briefing to US lawmakers on the situation in the Gulf kingdom where a 2011 uprising by the majority Shia population was brutally put down by the Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy which has ruled Bahrain since independence from Britain in 1971.
Protesters calling for elections and democratic reforms were met with overwhelming military force leading to at least 89 deaths and thousands of arrests, according to rights groups. And recommendations by a commission of inquiry set up by H M King Hamad bin Isa Khalifa have failed to be fully implemented.
“Long-term simmering tension in Bahrain, increasingly violent protests, a rise in sectarianism, a relentless government crackdown on dissent, and the ruling family’s failure to deliver political reform all raise crucial questions for the US government’s role in the country,” a new report by Washington-based Human Rights First said yesterday.
“As Bahrain slides towards greater instability, it is time for the United States to adopt a more active approach, making clear that there will be serious consequences for the Bahrain regime if it continues to fail to reform.” Since 2000 the US has sold Bahrain — which is home to the important US Gulf Fifth Fleet — some $1.4bn in weapons, although some are on hold or have been scaled back since the uprising.
A $580m military construction project, mainly to develop the naval base, is also underway, Human Rights First said, which slammed the administration of President Barack Obama for an “ambiguous and inconsistent” approach to Bahrain. Despite vocal criticism of human rights abuses, the US has not imposed sanctions on Bahraini officials accused of carrying them out, and has continued to arm the regime.
AFP
