Here in northern germany the German Armed Forces the bundeswehr is holding its open day. Fun and games for the entire family say the organizers and a chance for the arms industry to show off its web is especially for munitions john try and metal there is hardly a german Weapons Project that does not involve drawing meton by. The German Company goes back a long way and this is one of its main or cations like. Five thousand kilometers away bombs are being dropped on civilians in a war that makes a mockery of International Law and despite apparently strict export rules run mittal has made. Being a killing out of it. If it is described gravity and they if cities are expanding and they are all getting new customers as well for the bot this is an infamous game with dubious rules in terms of legality ethics and morality what would you call that the dutch attention or German Technology and expertise are being used to deal in death we have to do all we can to stop this justify. Every two years the british capital attracts military delegations from around the world they come to the london docklands to attend a d s e i alms fact that countries may be at war with each other but here they can bury the hatchet while they buy new weapons. One of the biggest stands of the trade fam belongs to ron matal germanys leading arms manufacturer would just hold off base Company Sells three billion euros worth of military equipment tanks cannons Simulation Systems guns and ammunition. Shall most for mortar launchers soft tillery guns tanks and old munch on display like precious museum exhibits looking so shiny and pretty that an observer could forget that these instruments of death. Many of those inside all familiar with this man on the outside Andrew FeinsteinInternational Arms trade expert and former South African parliamentarian hes not allowed in fortunately my name is well known to me will be nice is off the office fat and so im never granted a trade its a shame to come. Inside the sphere since he uncovered a huge arms scandal in his country he has been operating from london for his own safety his Research Also focuses on german arms exports germany plays a role through the export of weapons especially into regions that are unstable where there is conflict where there is repression most obviously today the middle east and plays a role in ensuring that those conflicts are remarkably bloody. Like the campaign in yemen it was originally touted as a short aerial intervention led by saudi arabia to defeat the militias who were allegedly terrorizing the country. More than a thousand days later theres been no sign of a let up the who thieves have put up stiffer resistance than expected and the saudis and their allies have responded by raising much of yemen to the ground they bombed schools hospitals and residential areas they destroyed infrastructure and apparently aim to starve the country into submission its a war thats claimed thousands of lives and led to a humanitarian catastrophe. Going by the book the german arms industry should have nothing to do with this war. For example it is forbidden by german law to export arms to countries where they can be used to disturb the peace. As the German Security and Defense Industry we completely accept that. But there are ways and means to turn a profit that all the same one of those ways is by an island in the mediterranean familiar to many germans as a holiday destination. Mount openly is one of saudi indias best known politicians he was regional president before he was elected to the Italian Parliament and run a politician who conducts a lot of his research personally including research into ryan met top. It all began just over two years ago when he got a tip off that something incredible was happening at kalyani apple where planes full of vacationers land and take off. That he stays at this area here was full of bombs it was quite a show of course the people who saw it got excited at the countless bombs being loaded onto a cargo plane they demanded our courses for then the ball mikati got then they took out of. The cell photos of the operation the weapons of war being loaded up next to the tourist carriers. U. S. General purpose bombs from the mock eighty series being loaded onto a plane belonging to silk way and azerbaijani and one that specializes in transporting weapons to crisis hit regions. What was going on. We got his boss that the only answer i got was from the operators of the airport people you know who said that all the flights were authorized that they dont use but chief no further details both liberal and i asked the same question in parliament and was told the same thing that isnt that it that the flights were authorized. This was official confirmation that bombs were being transported by the dust bowl to the bomb but the bombs are assembled here in rural sardinia about forty five kilometers west of. In. Valley near the town of domas no less is an unassuming looking factory that makes bombs by the thousands. It belongs to a Company Called italia the abbreviation stands for rhine matal weapon and munition and it is a one hundred percent subsidiary of german manufacturer run mittal. But it kept the days this is a german factory on italian territory that makes a deadly product. Bombs that are sold all over the world by a measurement here germany is exploiting it disadvantaged area this will just something with its high unemployment. Or arms are being manufactured for huge profits not that but a brute i did not is what is happening in this area. When it comes to the course of the. Book where of the bombs made by iran mittal insaan tinian deployed in twenty fifteen an employee of the ngo Human Rights Watch snapped these photographs of bomb components. They were found in sabah in northern yemen city with a population of fifty thousand shortly after a saudi bombing raid. The bomb but as a code number that indicates the type of bomb among and its origin. The italian island of sardinia. When queried ryan mittal in total golf admitted that the n. S. A. Encode thirteen twenty five fifteen one five fifty eight twenty full indicates that it was made on wm italia gradually a coherent picture is emerging he seems just a course of ha obviously lots of people said nothing yeah i know first the government in rome. In the Regional Government and anyone else who knew what was going on. Because factory was always used to make explosives but they were use for civilian purposes ok the plant used to supply the local mines that once existed here in sardinia. But at some stage the factory was repurposed more or less secretly on a. Quest. That. Central been in may twenty seventeen protest does take to the streets to do. Demonstrate against ryan metal as it holds its annual Shareholders Meeting. But despite not lets be clear i never buy shares in ryan mattel to make a profit is guilty of complicity with arms exports and with murder throughout the world. Im out o. Major lotto works for an Italian Foundation he is part of a network that buys run Mittal Shands not for the dividend but to ask difficult questions that shareholder meetings he has heard that ryan mittal plans to invest heavily in its factory in south india. To me to get a for these and i would like to ask why these facilities are being expended in dont most know of us as we read that there is going to be a new testing range we dont understand exactly what is going on what is being tested and what for which weapons. Where these weapons being exported to. These have often exposed to it. That previous annual meetings are run mental photographs were allowed these are from twenty fifteen. They show rahmatullah chairman baca and behind him the other directors and Supervisory Board members now photos are prohibited when the chairman gets up to talk business his message to this meeting all the trends point to growth especially for rye matal defense the weapons. Sales of almost three billion euros in twenty sixteen fourteen percent year on year growth and a new order for munitions to the tune of four hundred eleven Million Euros. The destination is in one of the most conflict torn regions in the world the middle east and north Africa Ryan Mittal wont say exactly which country has played. The order. The fun what did you make of the numbers it was at the moment the company is in good shape and it was all very correct and democratic perfect but not going to do well the dividend is not bad at all its certainly better than the interest the local bank pays it doesnt have all the you that balms may buy rahmatullah being used in yemen at least a dozen other maybe. Thats the wrong question have bombs are being dropped there its not right mattel dropping them to the powers the Shareholders Meeting it was good good but what did you like in particular because the whole atmosphere the whole package is im tight weve got what did you make of the numbers they presented. Yes promising sorry i have to guess my boss at some was does it bother you the poms may buy rahmatullah being dropped in yemen. Does not everything is put to the right use but there are positives to buy for now qantas. Malo major lotto now has confirmation that the plant in sardinia is growing in importance for run mittal. If im going to but you know they answered some of our questions about plans to expand the plant and dont most know of us so im good stock that they said they would invest seventeen to twenty Million Euros in two thousand and seventeen and the same again in two thousand and eighteen. Thousand oxen also we dont. Know about us is a small town with high unemployment and the dwindling population business is booming for one fun run meant tals bomb factory. It is dramatic this is a business based on death. The more people are killed the more weapons are bought and the more you kill it the more weapons you need its. Perverse mechanism that a Democratic State should not tolerate neither for moral nor economic reasons. But how come this small town in southern sardinia play such a big role in the International Arms trade lets take a look at a complicated contract from twenty twelve that formed the basis for a major export do. The Saudi ArabianDefense Ministry orders bombs from us from raytheon its british subsidiary subcontracts the rahmatullah subsidiary w. M. Italia to produce them contract is worth more than sixty three Million Euros. The order was delivered from dormice nov us to jeddah islamic seaport from where it was taken to the end customer the Royal Saudi Air force this contract ran until mid twenty seventeen and covered thousands of m. K. Eighty three bombs. Since the start of the saudi akram ban in yemen in twenty fifteen at the very latest it is being doubtful whether the arms exports are in line with italian law. Is that the venues are sales to a country at war or to a conflict that has been condemned by the United Nations a numerous occasions the italian constitution which condemns war and a law on arms exports totally prohibit this kind of export. How is it possible for ryan mittal to export bombs from soundin into saudi arabia nonetheless when asked to tally in defense minister said it had nothing to do with. What hes or not italian bonds they are covered by a contract signed by a us firm that subcontracted. That company has factories in italy. Numerous written queries to the Italian Government went. Then is responsible for the bombs exported by germanys biggest manufacturer. In berlin the federal Security Council meets in secret to decide what. Can go ahead. Of the chancellor an important minister bases its decisions on the governments political principles which say supplying weapons of war shall not be approved to countries involved in conflicts or when there is a danger of such a conflict breaking out. A flexible principle as the latest figures show twenty seventeen the German Government did indeed approve exports to some countries that dont meet the requirements German Companies exporting nations worth four hundred twenty eight Million Euros to egypt two hundred forty nine Million Euros worth to saudi arabia two hundred fourteen million to the United Arab Emirates in the late one nine hundred eighty s. When helmut kohl was chancellor his defense minister of the Christian Democratic Union was a member of the federal Security Council professor knows the legal and political ramifications of exports. Its a grey area heres one example. To saudi arabia intended for Police Border controls that has nothing to do with the military or military purposes however if the intention is to deploy them for military purposes they do need approval according to legislation governing the weapons of war in other words its a grey area. Grey area or not there should be no question of expo. To saudi arabia for the war in yemen. Arms can be used or intended for use in wars of aggression or for measures that would disturb the peace as the law stipulates then the federal German Government is duty bound to refuse to approve their export time the German Economic Ministry has to say about the bomb. In the matter you describe the assumption that the export of arms took place from italy in this regard germany. Sports from germany very easy for the judge to say these particular. Being produced in italy their responsibility of the to regulate the italian. German and therefore. That the. Kingdom and it is this way that the global trade in weapons remains less regulated than the global trade. Some deals were approved by neither the italian nor the German Government run the town has found another way around the regulations this time by south africa. Since the days of apartheid the country has had a powerful arms industry with close ties to politicians. One of the few politicians who lost critical questions about this is copus marais of the Opposition PartyDemocratic Alliance in twenty sixteen he learned that an entire turnkey arms factory had been exported to saudi arabia. People concerned that you know said saudi arabia has got a good record in terms of human rights and suppression of human rights especially women and then you know the perception that they are supporting isis and even some rebel forces in yemen and other countries it is in conflict zones and we were concerned that whatever gets manufactured the we you know can be used directly or in directly in those in those areas the government did not respond to questions about reportedly unchecked use of the arms factory which added to my raise concern. That were not convinced at all i think as ive stated in the in a previous in earlier that when anything can be used and sometimes in the future so its a Saudi Company now so it makes it even more difficult to monitor and control because they would tell us probably i suspected but be doing is not good nothing to do with you we dont use your products to manufacture anything. Despite the fact that the original plan. Was manufactured and installed because. Fifty kilometers east of cape town on the way to the Somerset West township is the headquarters of the company that built the factory its a huge complex with tight security a site of National Strategic importance which is why filming is actually prohibited to watch trans bad a familiar blue logo bastion of rime atop this branch is called the now munition audi m m presents itself as a premium manufacturing. Precision. Moves. Battle tested you see where every detail. With its Mission Critical there is no room for. Compromise. This is where the ships brutes they make. Their ultimate. Sun transmissions for when you choose right matal to not only initially audi aim is may need an export driven company and one of the most Successful Companies into the africa. Of billions. Every year they employ over two thousand people and they all crying at. The factories of even running double shifts because theyre also busy if any one of. Success stories on the finance industry side of. The story began a decade ago when ron motown started a joint venture with a state run South African Company denounced. In two thousand and eight two. Joint South African owned danell and germanys run matal defense efficiency and quality. Minister was there have been constant scandals around. The whole. Africas military infrastructure is constantly embroiled in scandal so its origins were criminal and its practices since then have remained criminal to be in partnership with a company that is a state owned enterprise in south africa means that you are effectively engaging in the corruption that is taking place in the South African state today. We