England Is Major Arms Dealer To Indonesia

The report, produced by Saferworld, an independent foreign policy think tank, states that small arms and light weapons were licensed by London for export to Bahrain, Colombia, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zambia, while defensive body armor, military helmets and aircraft machine gun spares were licensed to Indonesia.

Licenses were also issued for exports to countries involved in conflicts, such as Ecuador, Turkey and India and Pakistan. Jordan and Singapore both received a large number of export licenses despite being notorious transit routes in the past to Iraq and Iran, respectively.

A large number of licenses for small arms and ammunition were granted to the British Channel Islands, a destination without any apparent defense needs. And military equipment (including submachine guns, rifles, electronic equipment, toxicological agents and ammunition) licensed to Hong Kong raise particular end-use concerns.

Ian Davis, author of the audit, says that official specifications are often "too vague, such as 'electronic equipment' or 'aircraft spares,' and other crucial information is excluded altogether, including the quantity, value and end-user of arms."

"Without this information, it is often still difficult to assess whether strategic goods and technologies have been licensed to countries where they might be used to abuse human rights, support external aggression or undermine development," he said.

"It is not clear that these exports are consistent with the Government's criterion that 'arms will not be licensed which might be used for internal repression,'" the report concludes.

According to Davis, "although in many cases more information is needed before a definitive judgement can be made, some of the export licenses detailed in the (Government) Annual Report show that a stricter and more consistent implementation of export policy is needed.

The audit was released in the wake of growing criticism of Tony Blair's government for its ties with Indonesia, whose military have been supporting the terror campaign unleashed by anti-independence militias in East Timor.

The government invited Indonesia to attend an officially- sponsored arms show to be opened in Surrey, which prompted East-Timorese pro independence leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta to describe Blair as "Europe's most hypocritical head of government."

Independent journalist John Pilger said last week in The Guardian that the Labor government, while proclaiming to conduct an "ethical foreign policy" approved last year "the sale of 625 billion pounds in arms (to Indonesia), a record never reached by the Tories (Conservatives) and surpassed only by the U.S."

Indonesia pulled out of the visit to the arms fair on Wednesday, to the relief of British members of Parliament and campaigners against the arms trade, who were stunned by the invitation.

British Foreign Affairs secretary Robin Cook said last week that while London disapproved the violence in East Timor, he saw no good in halting aid to Indonesia, because that would not affect the military whom he blamed for the militias' campaign. However, the invitation to the arms show has not been withdrawn.

"We are outraged to learn that the Government invited the Indonesian regime to the exhibition. And we are shocked that the invitation still stands. Indonesia can still come to the arms fair, and other countries involved in human rights abuses are definitely coming," Rachel Harford of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said.

The Defence Systems & Equipment International exhibition in Chertsey, Surrey and London Docklands between 14 and 17 September will be the UK's largest government-sponsored exhibition of weapons to date.

It will be held on ministry of Defense land (MoD) and is sponsored by the ministry's Defense Evaluation and Research Agency. It is expected that over 20 thousand delegates, buyers and officials will be attending.

Besides the UK, Germany, Greece, Canada, Russia, the U.S., Netherlands, and Italy will be represented.

UK arms export companies exhibiting include British Aerospace, which sells fighter aircraft; Alvis Vehicles (tanks and military vehicles), Racal (military electronics), Raytheon (missiles), GKN Westland (helicopters) and Shorts (missile systems).

Britain's arms trade with Indonesia has put Cook in hot water in the past. The government was accused of hypocrisy when its promise of an "ethical dimension" to foreign policy was followed by his refusal to revoke licenses allowing the export of 16 Hawk 209s (ground attack aircraft) to Indonesia in 1996.

Cook himself had told Parliament in 1994 that Hawk aircraft had been "observed on bombing runs in East Timor in most years since 1984," John Pilger stressed.

Some of those 16 Hawks, worth an estimated $30 million each, still await delivery. 1996 also saw an Indonesian contract with Alvis for 50 Scorpion tanks, to the tune of $128.4 million.

And in 1997, Indonesia bought 293 armoured personal carriers, with 13 Tactica water cannons as well as defensive body armor, military helmets and aircraft machine gun spares.

Last year, 41 Standard Individual Export Licenses covering arms exports to Indonesia were granted, with just one license refused.

"While there is no concrete evidence that these are being used in the current spate of violence in East Timor, given that Britain is the main supplier of arms to Indonesia, it is very possible," Harford says.

Last week, Cook confirmed that British Aerospace Hawk fighters had flown over Dili, the capital of East Timor.

While the government says licenses will not be granted to countries with poor human rights records, campaign groups are keen to point out that arms export companies from all over the world will be at the exhibition to promote their weapons.

They are concerned that deals with non-UK companies are not subject to UK controls. "The government claims it will scrutinize arms deals resulting from the fair, but those struck between foreign countries will not be subject to government approval," Gideon Burrows of CAAT said.

An Amnesty International spokesman said: "There needs to be rigorous mechanisms to monitor the end-use of any equipment which is sold at the arms fairs and then granted an export license. In the case of Indonesia, AI has called on a cessation of exports of potentially lethal equipment."