Bush administration 'broke its own embargo to sell arms to Haiti police'
Friday, April 22, 2005 at 06:00PM
TheSpook
The Bush administration has been
accused of ignoring its own arms embargo and overseeing the sale of
$7m-worth (£3.7m) of weapons to the Haitian government to equip its
police force. Human rights groups say the police carry out routine
executions of dissidents and weapons are often illegally funnelled to
armed militia. Robert Muggah of the Swiss-based Small Arms Survey, a
non-profit group, said that last year the US effected the sale of
thousands of weapons to the interim government headed by Gerard
Latortue, despite a 13-year arms embargo. "They are meant to brace up a
shaky security force, but the reality is they could actually undermine
security by jeopardising an innovative disarmament effort just getting
under way," said Mr Muggah, who has spent several months in Haiti
interviewing diplomats and UN officials for a report. The embargo was
established after a coup that ousted the elected president Jean-Betrand
Aristide, who was forced into exile for a second time last year.
Washington, which had long under- mined his presidency, refused to help
him. The weapons embargo remains in place. Mr Latortue, installed
following negotiations involving the US, France and Canada, complained
the ban prevented him equipping the police. But according to Mr Muggah,
despite Mr Latortue's public protestations, a number of arms sales have
gone ahead. His report says 5,435 "military-style weapons", including
M-14 and other semi-automatic guns and 4,433 handguns worth $6.95m,
were provided from the US. [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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