Libyan arms deals: DA asks Public Protector to investigate

The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that Jeff Radebe, Chairperson of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), has effectively admitted that more than 100 sniper rifles and more than 50 000 rounds of ammunition were sold to Libya in late 2010.

The minister finally admitted, after several days of ducking-and-diving allegations about the sale of sniper rifles and ammunition, that "the transaction was concluded with Libya".

The minister claimed that all transactions:

• were authorized and complied with the guidelines and criteria set out in the law regulating the conventional arms trade; and
• that details of the transaction could not be provided because of confidentiality clauses in the contracts with Libya.

The transaction could not however have complied with the guidelines and criteria set out in the National Conventional Arms Control Act (No 42 of 2000).

The guidelines and criteria, set out in the law regulating conventional arms sales, have a high human rights standard and require that we, inter alia, "avoid transfers of conventional arms to governments that systematically violate or suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms".

The fact is that Muammer Gaddaffi's regime systematically suppressed human rights and fundamental freedoms in Libya.

Human Rights Watch, for example, reports that in 2010, "government control and repression remain the norm" and "harsh restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression" were maintained in Libya.

The transactions to conventional arms, including sniper rifles and ammunition, to Libya could therefore have been illegal.

Moreover, the NCACC has been in administrative meltdown for years with the Auditor-General finding last year that:

• transactions took place without the required inputs from relevant government departments;
• delivery verification certificates and end-user certificates were often missing; and
• minister's who serve on the committee "did not understand and exercise their oversight responsibility relating to the issuing of permits and related controls".

In the past, it appears that the principles and guidelines, set out in the law regulating conventional arms sales, have largely been ignored, and that most arms deals are authorized unless there is an arms embargo in place by the United Nations.

The bottom line is that conventional arms should never have been sold to Libya in late 2010.

The DA will, therefore, request the Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, to investigate whether, in authorizing the transaction to export sniper rifles and ammunition to Libya, the NCACC complied with the law regulating conventional arms trade in South Africa.

We need to know:

• the names of the minsters, which serve on the NCACC, who finally signed off on the transaction;
• whether all the relevant permits were issued in respect of the transaction;
• whether the Scrutiny Committee - a committee of officials who make recommendations on conventional arms trade to the NCACC - recommend authorizing or rejecting the transaction;
• whether all the relevant government department provided comment on whether to authorize or reject the transaction; and
• what kind of evidence was used by the various government departments to weigh the various principles and criteria that must be considered before authorizing or deny the transaction.

An investigation by the public protector will be the first detailed investigation into the inner workings of the NCACC.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, February 27 2011

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