Australia okays rifle sale to RI
Australia okays rifle sale to RI
CANBERRA (Reuter): Australia's government has approved in
principle a bid by an arms manufacturer to sell rifles to the
Indonesian military, officials said yesterday.
The Australian newspaper said approval was granted despite
advice from within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
that the guns could be used in human rights violations.
"In principle approval has been given by the government for
the export of rifles to Indonesia but no current (export license)
application has been received," a department spokesman told
Reuters.
Australian Defense Industries (ADI), a government-owned
armsmaker, had discussed with senior Indonesian officials a bid
to sell A$100 million (US$76 million) worth of the Austrian-
designed Steyr rifles, The Australian reported.
"The department's human rights section opposed the export
proposal because of a 'risk' that the weapons could be used to
suppress internal dissent, which would be incompatible with
Australia's human rights objectives," the newspaper said.
A spokesman for ADI said he could not comment on the report as
such matters were commercially sensitive.
The foreign affairs department spokesman said he was not aware
of the advice on human rights aspects of any sale.
Indonesia is looking for a replacement for its U.S. M-16 and
Belgian FN rifles, which are of different calibers. ADI
manufactures the 5.56 mm Steyr rifle for the Australian and New
Zealand armies under license from Steyr-Daimler-Puch.
It is bidding to sell Steyr rifles to Thailand's army, a deal
which defense analysts have estimated could be worth A$130
million ($97.5 million).
Some human rights and political groups warned in August that
the rifles may be either used in human rights violations by the
Thai army or could fall into the hands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas
in neighboring Cambodia.
East Timorese refugees living in Australian immediately
condemned the initial approval for rifle sales to Indonesia.
Spokesmen for Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and for Ray said
they could not comment on the details of any export plans.