Arms exports breach foreign policy
Arms exports breach foreign policy
By Richard Norton-Taylor
LONDON: The British Government has approved more than 2,000 licenses for arms exports to some of the world's most volatile trouble-spots, in apparent breach of its ethical foreign policy guidelines, according to a report published Wednesday.
They include categories covering the supply of small arms and machine guns to security forces in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia, despite a pledge that licenses would not be granted if there was "a clearly identifiable risk that the export might be used for internal repression".
Sixty-four licenses were granted to Indonesia for categories of equipment including bombs, tanks and combat aircraft, some at the height of the political and economic turmoil earlier this year.
A flood of licenses has been cleared for India and Pakistan, embroiled in a dispute over Kashmir and nuclear tests, despite recent ministerial statements that arms sales should not be approved if they increased regional tension.
Export licenses for "small arms, machine guns and accessories" were granted to Bahrain, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- all countries on the face of it covered by the guidelines.
Thirty-six export licenses were granted to China for categories of equipment including large-caliber weapons, rockets and missiles covered by a European Union embargo. Licenses were also granted for arms-related exports to Algeria, which is also covered by the embargo.
The new figures are contained in a report by Saferworld, an independent research group, based on numerous ministerial answers to questions from MPs.
Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat defense spokesman, Tuesday pointed to a recent statement by Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, about the dangers of an arms race on the Indian sub- continent. "Yet in the light of the fact that 535 licenses have been granted to India from May 1, 1997, to May 10, 1998, for such items as bombs, missiles, combat aircraft and riot control agents, we are clearly fueling an arms race ourselves", Campbell said.
He called for the setting up of a Commons committee to scrutinize arms exports and individual license applications. Labor MP Ann Clwyd said: "It is difficult to know what arms we are selling because it is shrouded in secrecy."
Saferworld concedes that it is impossible to tell exactly what each export license covers, because the information given is in broad categories. One category ranges from aircraft to parachutes.
However, information based on Department of Trade and Industry statistics show that licenses were approved for the supply of "toxological agents, riot control agents and related equipment, including tear gas" to Indonesia, India and Turkey.
Cook said recently the Government had "made it quite clear we will not sell equipment that will be used in internal oppression". Douglas Henderson, the minister responsible for Europe, said earlier this year: "We remain concerned at Turkey's poor human rights record."
Guidelines announced by the Foreign Office soon after Labor came to power state that "an export license will not be issued if the arguments for doing so are outweighed ... by concern that the goods might be used for internal oppression or international aggression, or by the risks to regional stability, or other considerations."
Though these considerations include the potential effect on Britain's commercial interests and its "essential strategic industrial base", the rules stress the importance of human rights and the need "not to introduce into (a) region new capabilities which would be likely to lead to increased tension".
The Foreign Office said Tuesday that the Government's first annual report on strategic exports -- expected next month -- would give details of all major export licensees. Ministers privately say that the existing DTI system of categories, inherited from the previous government, is unsatisfactory.
-- Guardian News Service