MENL, CAIRO [MENL] — Yemen has launched a campaign to sell Soviet-origin main battle tanks to clients in Africa.
Industry sources said Yemen has reached an arrangement to serve as a middle man for T-72 tanks from Russia. They said Yemen would purchase the T-72s for a range of African clients, including Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan.
The sources could not confirm reports that Sanaa has already supplied 60 T-72s in a $24 million deal with Ethiopia. The report was published in the Ethiopian Reporter daily.
The Ethiopian Reporter said on July 23 Yemen had bought 300 tanks from Russia in a deal that was concluded in October 2002. In turn, Sanaa had sold 60 of them to Ethiopia and plans to sell additional tanks to Djibouti and Sudan.
