[I see I missed this one earlier this year. Look at how Zimbabwe plays a part in fuelling the war in the DRC. Jan]

Arms to Zimbabwe routinely reached Congo

Prague – A newspaper on Thursday reported finding new evidence that Czech arms makers exported weapons to the Democratic Republic of Congo despite international embargoes during the country’s recent war. The ongoing investigation into sales of thousands of machine guns, anti-tank rockets and missile launchers in 2000 also linked the alleged deals to Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross, who was then serving as interior minister, and former Foreign Minister Jan Kavan, who later served as president of the United Nations General Assembly. Gross has not commented, and Kavan told the newspaper Hospordarske noviny that he remembers agreeing to arms deals after his advisors said they would not violate international law. Spokespeople for the companies, Ceska Zbrojovka and Arms Moravia, defended the deals as legal and transparent. The report said the Czech government licensed two companies to sell arms to Zimbabwe after the companies failed to get permission to sell directly to Congo. A former Uninted Nations observer in Congo, Ladislav Sornas, told the paper that arms shipped to the Zimbabwe military at that time routinely reached Congo, since their armies cooperated. A European Union arms embargo against Congo was in effect between 1993 and 2002. The Czech Republic joined the European Union last year. A UN arms embargo against Congo remains in effect. The alleged deals involved up to 12 500 machine guns, 1 000 anti-tank rockets and 70 missile launchers, the newspaper said. For years, Transparency International and other groups have criticised the Czech government and its arms industry for questionable deals involving unstable countries in Africa and Asia.

author/source:News24 (SA)
published:Thu 3-Mar-2005
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com