France Must Question UAE Over Use Of Total Plant As Prison In Yemen - Lawmaker

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2020) Paris must ask its UAE partners for explanations over the use of a closed gas plant in Yemen, partially owned by the French energy giant Total, as a secret prison by the Emirati army, with torture and human rights violations reportedly taking place there, a member of the French National Assembly told Sputnik.

Last week, about 50 French lawmakers addressed a letter to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, asking him to look into the site of the French Total plant being used as a secret prison. The politicians insist that the top French diplomat should demand official explanations from Abu Dhabi.

"Even though, obviously, the two states are allies in their strategies on the Arabian peninsula and, in particular, in the war in Yemen, I think that it is necessary to activate the diplomatic levers. It can be done by demanding explanations from the UAE ambassador in Paris and then from the UAE authorities. I think that this is the least one can do," Hubert Julien-Laferriere, a lawmaker and a member of the foreign affairs committee of the French National Assembly from the ruling LREM party, who initiated the letter, told Sputnik.

The politician believes that established diplomatic relations and an active arms trade with France's ally in the Gulf region must not prevent France from demanding explanations.

"These relations are very good, strengthened through the years, along with the exports of the French arms to the UAE, but this doesn't prevent the two states from sometimes having frank explanations, which are needed in this case. It seems indispensable to me.

There are many states with which we have important commercial relations, but when there are violations of human rights there are explanations. It doesn't mean that we are questioning the whole diplomatic relations. We are not asking to break this diplomatic relations, or recalling our ambassador in Abu Dhabi, or halting commercial relations. We ask for the explanations that we can give to the French citizens, because their taxes contributed to the construction of this site," Julien-Laferriere said.

Le Monde newspaper reported in November 2019, citing testimonies from international human rights organizations, that the "temporary detention" facility is still functioning on the site of Balhaf plant on the Yemeni territory.

Julien-Laferriere insisted that Total must react as well.

"Total issued a press release one year ago when this issue was revealed. It is necessary that Total makes a statement again ... The site was requisitioned by the Yemeni government on behalf of the UAE army. So they [Total] cannot do anything. But an explanation is needed. The state, even though it hasn't directly put the money into it, but it gave a credit guarantee at the time of construction of the gas facility," he said.

The French lawmakers who signed the letter say the work of the plant might be resumed to help Yemen revive its economy. It is also important to shed light on this issue to keep a prominent image of France in the international arena, according to Julien-Laferriere. The demand was also backed by the 2019 UN report on the war in Yemen, which it classified as the worst humanitarian crisis of modern times.