Britain to block sales of arms to Indonesia

Britain to block sales of arms to Indonesia

LONDON (Agencies): Britain's decision to block some arms sales to Indonesia showed that the Labour government was serious about putting human rights at the heart of its foreign policy, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said yesterday.

Cook, who is in New York to attend the 52nd United Nations General Assembly, gave no details in an interview with BBC radio of the contracts that have been blocked.

But British newspapers said they involved armored personnel carriers and sniper rifles worth 1 million pounds (US$1.6 million).

The foreign secretary confirmed that the decision was a direct result of the commitment Labour made in its manifesto for the May 1 election not to sell arms to governments that might use them for internal repression.

"That's what guided us in that case and that's what will guide us in any future license application," Cook said.

He said it was perhaps too dramatic to call the decision a turning point.

"But it certainly does demonstrate that we have put in place tougher criteria. Those tougher criteria are biting and they're delivering the policy that we promised," he added.

Indonesia is a major purchaser of British arms.

Activists criticized Cook when he unveiled his new ethical arms policy for not canceling any of the 21,000 licenses already issued for arms exports to Jakarta.

But British officials said last month when Cook visited Indonesia that it was likely some applications to export defense equipment would be turned down in the future.

The Guardian newspaper said the applications were rejected on the advice of the Foreign Office after tripartite consultations with the Ministry of Defense and Department of Trade and Industry.

British defense industry officials and unions are nervous about Cook's approach, saying it could jeopardize lucrative arms exports that have made Britain one of the world's top four suppliers of weapons.

Some 400,000 jobs in Britain depend directly or indirectly on the defense industry.

Sales of military hardware dominate Britain's exports to Indonesia, totaling $700 million in 1996, or more than half the overall figure of $1.34 billion.

British businesses also have around $6 billion invested in Indonesia.