South Africa takes fire for arms sales to blacklisted nations
A new report finds that the government of South Africa has made $1.7 billion in arms sales over the past decade to 58 blacklisted countries that do not meet South Africa's own criteria for arms customers, including those with poor human rights records or ongoing internal conflicts.
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“Arms are not potatoes. The reason we have an act is because they can’t be sold like potatoes,” Mr. Thomson told a press conference in Johannesburg. “We are selling more arms to the worst countries than to countries that pass the criteria. More than half of the arms to these failing countries are significant sensitive equipment.”
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Ceasefire Campaign tried to obtain information on South African arms sales through official government channels, but after meeting resistance, it obtained that information through a combination of sources, including United Nations, the South African state arms manufacturer Denel, and the Bonn International Centre for Conversion, a research group on the arms trade.
South Africa’s Justice Minister Jeff Radebe dismissed the Ceasefire report.
“These allegations are not breaking any new ground,” says Mr. Radebe in statement to the press. Every arms transaction is “subject to a meticulous process of scrutiny and investigation,” by South Africa’s National Conventional Arms Control Committee, which Radebe chairs. He says the committee was “satisfied that all decisions taken on all transactions were based on aggregate consideration of all principles reflected in our law, including our international obligations on arms transfer.”
“South Africa will continue to subscribe to the international agenda of responsible trade in arms,” Mr. Radebe says in his statement.
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