London: Britain trained Saudi Arabia's forces which were sent into neighbouring Bahrain to help crush a pro-democracy uprising in the tiny gulf kingdom early this year, a media report said on Sunday.
Saudi Arabian National Guard, the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain, was given training in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles by British military mission, The Observer
newspaper reported citing government documents.
Britain's Ministry of Defence has confirmed that its personnel regularly run courses for the national guard in "weapons, field-craft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training".
The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.
Citing documents, the paper said that Britain sends up to 20 training teams to the kingdom a year. Saudi Arabia pays for "all BMM personnel, as well as support costs such as accommodation and transport".
The revelation has outraged human rights groups, which point out that the Foreign Office recognises that the kingdom's human rights record is "a major concern".
"Britain's important role in training the Saudi Arabian national guard in internal security over many years has enabled them to develop tactics to help suppress the popular uprising in Bahrain," said Nicholas Gilby of the Campaign Against Arms Trade.
Bahrain's rulers invited troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states into the island state, home of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, to help crush the pro-democracy uprising. Around 1,500 Saudi troops then entered Bahrain in March.
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