British export of jets to Indonesia to go ahead
British export of jets to Indonesia to go ahead
LONDON (AFP): The British export of fighter jets to Indonesia
is to go ahead, it was reported yesterday, despite a warning from
London that arms supplies will be cut if Jakarta does not improve
its human rights record.
Sixteen British Aerospace Hawk fighter planes will be exported
in a 160 million pound (US$250 million) deal in the face of
persistent allegations that Indonesia uses such jets against
opposition forces in East Timor, the Financial Times said.
"There is no evidence that the aircraft are being used in East
Timor," a senior British government member was quoted as saying.
"Our intelligence on that is very clear."
The FT also reported that the government had been warned there
were "formidable obstacles" in the way of revoking the British
Aerospace contract to supply the planes.
The news, if confirmed, undermines Foreign Secretary Robin
Cook's warning to Indonesia on Thursday to improve its record on
human rights if it wishes British arms exports to continue.
In a keynote speech reiterating his commitment to place human
rights at the forefront of foreign policy -- to which end an arms
trade review is underway -- Cook said: "There will be changes
with respect to a number of countries of which that (Indonesia)
is one.
"Indonesia is a large purchaser of equipment and weapons from
Britain and like other countries it will be included in our arms
review, and criteria that we adopt will be applied equitably.
"Britain will refuse to supply the equipment and weapons with
which regimes deny the demands of their peoples for human
rights."
Asked specifically about the Hawk jets, Cook said: "If we have
evidence that any particular weapons system -- of which that is
one -- is being used for internal repression, we will not give an
export license for it."
His resolve to use arms sales as leverage to improve rights
was less forceful than in his first policy address after Labour's
landslide election victory in May, when he hinted at firmer and
swifter action.
This time, he tempered it with a caveat against the "error of
imagining that we have done our bit for human rights by refusing
to have anything to do with those countries with an
unsatisfactory performance on human rights.
"This may provide us with clean hands," he said. "But it is
unlikely to provide their people with better rights. Some
regimes, such as Iraq, may simply be beyond rational persuasion."
In remarks to reporters after his speech, Cook added: "It is
in our interests that we reach an outcome in which we continue to
be a leading arms exporter without conflicting with other very
important aspects of the British nation.