Qatar buys arms deal to help the Algerian government

Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jaber al-Thani on Wednesday stressed British press news on that Qatar has bought British military weapons and equipment at a cost of US $ 7.5 million for Algeria.

In statements to the Qatari al-Jazira space satellite and the Qatari official news agency, the Qatari minister added " this issue is not a secret and this is not the first time in which Qatar gives aids to the Algerian government."

The Qatari minister statements were made in reply to what was published on Sunday by the British daily ( Sunday Times) on that a request for buying weapons was submitted by Qatar to the British group" B.A Systems" in May saying that " the state of Qatar intends to give as a gift all these weapons to the armed forces in the state of Algeria." This deal, in particular includes tens of vehicles for rapid deployment and night vision equipment.

However, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem explained that Algeria has not received yet these aids because the weapon purchase request is still in its beginning.

He added that it is not the first aid the government of Algeria receives from Qatar who ( Qatar ) sees it as its duty to help in this regard, noting that Britain stressed that there is no embargo on selling weapons to Algeria.

In Britain, the spokeswoman for the British foreign ministry commented on this issue by saying that London continues the policy of not selling weapons if they will be used for foreign aggression purposes on internal oppressions, adding that there is no embargo imposed by Britain or the European Union on selling weapons to Algeria.