Ukraine Accused Again of Illegal Weapons Exports to Africa

Ukraine is again being accused of breaking UN sanctions and supplying arms to Angola’s UNITA insurgent movement. This has been reported by AP during the sojourn in this hot spot of Canada’s UN ambassador Robert Fowler, authorized by the UN to find the sources of weapons supplies to UNITA.

In Lusaka, Mr. Fowler received complaints about Ukraine from representatives of the Angolan Army waging war against UNITA. Contrary to UN sanctions in force since 1993, which prohibit the supply of armaments to UNITA, the insurgents managed to acquire tanks and artillery systems in East European countries, including allegedly Bulgaria and Ukraine. Mr. Fowler will also be shown some sophisticated weapons captured from the insurgents. Now an inquiry is being planned into the origin of these weapons. Robert Fowler needs these data, for he is known as a supporter of tough UN measures and actions aimed at a true discontinuation of the armed confrontation in Angola. The information collected in Angola is expected to make part of the report Mr. Fowler is going to present to a special UN Security Council meeting later in January.

This is not the first time that foreign media have accused Ukraine of illegal arms supplies to the Dark Continent in general and UNITA in particular. For example, the Africa News Service agency reported in January 1999 on Ukraine delivering three Mi-24 helicopters and some surface-to-surface missiles to UNITA. In May, the Johannesburg- based newspaper Mail and Guardian reported, quoting the South African intelligence sources, that, to fight the Angolan government, UNITA had received from Ukraine some fighter planes and six Russian-made Mi-24 helicopters via Uganda, a de facto ally of the Angolan insurgency.

Following these reports, Mr. Fowler visited Ukraine last summer, where he as UN representative was given explanations and all the required documents to confirm Kyiv’s noninvolvement in arms trade with UNITA. In June, Mr. Fowler addressed a UN Security Council briefing after his visit to Ukraine, where he gave a positive assessment of Kyiv’s efforts to observe the UN sanctions. At the same time, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to UN member- states to take this information into account, for the world media had published numerous and unsubstantiated, as Kyiv noted, anti-Ukrainian materials. Kyiv also tried to prove the unsubstantiated nature of those reports during direct negotiations between Ukrainian diplomats and the Angolan leadership.

But history is now repeating itself, and official Kyiv has nothing else to do but prepare fresh denials and to await with certain alarm the speech of Mr. Fowler in the UN Security Council after his visit to Angola.

COMMENTARY

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR ON AN AGGRESSIVE MARKET

“For a long time, the mass media and international political figures have been leveling accusations at Ukraine of weapons supplies to UNITA in contravention of UN SC sanctions,” Yevhen Marchuk told The Day the Monday before last. “Ukraine has rejected these accusations each time after a careful check of the relevant information, for the fact of our country exporting arms to UNITA has not been confirmed even once.

“In spite of the repeated denials of false information, our state continues to be blamed, while the tone of accusations becomes more pointed. We are aware of the interest some world forces take in unlawful activities in the region around Angola. We are aware that the ultimate aim of such actions is not only an attempt by vested interests to disguise their nefarious deeds but also the aspiration to cast a shadow on our state in the international arms market by way of unfair competition. We are going to submit to the Security Council the facts that confirm this.

“It is noteworthy that the African continent should have been selected for this purpose: this region is the venue of several ongoing military conflicts, so it is a tasty tidbit for many dubious missions in which weapons supplies are the key element. Unfortunately, those missionaries have chosen the name of Ukraine to cover up their misdeeds.“I would like to state again in this connection that Ukraine’s policy in the sphere of international transfers of armaments is consistent, credible, and based on the relevant decisions of the UN Security Council, OSCE, Wassenaar Agreement, etc. Ukraine is prepared to promote careful inquiries into the facts of probable violations of anti-UNITA sanctions and to cooperate to this end with official UN representatives.

“Simultaneously, we are interested in participating in international actions now being planned to monitor and avert illegal arms supplies to the regions under the jurisdiction of UN Security Council sanctions.”