Proof SA sold rifles to Gaddafi?

An HRW document proves that arms manufacturer Truvelo Armoury exported sniper rifles to Gaddafi's regime, says the DA

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A document released by Human Rights Watch proves that South African arms manufacturer Truvelo Armoury exported sniper rifles to the Gaddafi regime in 2009, the DA said on Tuesday.

The export permit to Libya, of which Sapa has a copy, is dated December 3, 2009.

It describes the consignment as containing five CMS 7 rifles and being number 21 of 28 boxes, but there is no indication what the rest contained.

Democratic Alliance defence spokesman David Maynier said he would ask Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to add the document to her preliminary investigation into South Africa's arms sales to Libya.

“This provides clear evidence that sniper rifles were exported to Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya,” he said.

“We cannot sit back and allow conventional weapons such as sniper rifles to be exported to rogue regimes.”

The South African government faces increasing pressure on the issue, following reports in June that fighters of the National Transitional Council had seized sniper rifles made by Truvelo.

It has declined to say whether South Africa's recorded R68.9 million worth of arms sales to Libya last year included sniper rifles.

In May, Madonsela began to investigate allegations that South Africa sold more than 100 sniper rifles and 50,000 rounds of ammunition to Libya in late 2010.

This followed a request from Maynier, who had accused Justice Minister Radebe, the chairman of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), of having “blood on his hands” if he had allowed the sale.

Radebe earlier told MPs the state could not divulge more than the broad categories of weapons that were sold, citing buyers' confidentiality concerns.

Maynier pointed out that, unlike in 2010, the NCACC did not record any arms sales to Libya in 2009.

“If the sniper rifles were exported for a sale, as the document suggests they may have been, then this raises a very serious question because no sales to Libya were recorded in the NCACC's 2009 annual report.”

Last week, Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu appeared to confirm that South Africa had allowed the sale of sniper rifles to Libya.

She told a security cluster briefing that South Africa could not have foreseen the uprising that ended Gaddafi's 42-year rule, though several ministries had been monitoring the unfolding of the Arab Spring.

“When we sold the sniper rifles that you might be referring to, Libya was as secure Ä to the extent that it was possible for us to determine Ä as any other country,” she said.

“In some countries we are not able to predict that there might be unrest.”

The United Nations imposed an arms embargo on Libya in February.

The NCACC Act stipulates that when considering arms exports, the committee must not only consider sanctions, but “avoid transfers of conventional arms to governments that systematically violate or suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

Radebe's spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. - Sapa

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/proof-sa-sold-rifles-to-gaddafi-1.1141456

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