German FM stands by refusal to send arms to Syria

Even if EU embargo expires, Berlin won’t arm rebels, says Guido Westerwelle

21 April 2013, 11:20 pm 0 Edit

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (photo credit: CC BY-SA Christliches Medienmagazin/Wikimedia Commons)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister said his country won’t send weapons to Syria’s opposition even if other European nations let an EU embargo on arms deliveries expire.

Britain and France are leading a push to modify the European Union’s embargo on Syria to permit weapons transfers to the opposition. Germany is reluctant, pointing to the danger of weapons reaching Islamic extremists engaged in the Arab country’s civil war.

The current embargo ends in late May.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told Germany’s ARD television Sunday: “If one or two or three countries in the European Union don’t want to extend it, then it will actually expire … because unanimity is required to extend sanctions. And then there is a new situation, and we will of course deal with it.”