Malaysia denies breaching embargo

Malaysia denies breaching embargo

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia denied yesterday it had broken
the UN arms embargo on Bosnia-Herzegovina, following accusations
by U.S. presidential challenger Robert Dole that Kuala Lumpur had
supplied weapons to Bosnian Moslems.

"Malaysia denies the allegations that this country has decided
to ignore the (UN) embargo by giving arms aid to Bosnia," Foreign
Minister Abdullah Badawi was quoted saying by the Bernama news
agency.

Dole, the U.S. Senate majority leader, was reported as saying
yesterday that several Islamic countries, including Malaysia, had
breached the arms embargo on Bosnia.

Abdullah described Dole's allegations as baseless but added
that Malaysia, nevertheless, regretted that the arms embargo on
Bosnia remained.

Malaysia has campaigned for the lifting of the arms embargo
since it was imposed three years ago, with Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad criticizing the United Nations for leaving
Bosnian Moslems virtually defenseless against Serbian attacks.