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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Is Ukraine Selling Uganda Crippled Tanks?

22 December, 1998 - 00:00

Ukraine shipped T-55 tanks worth of $28 million to Uganda,
and the transaction has raised a scandal there. No one in Kyiv wants to
say anything about their personal involvement in the affair.

The government paper of the African country reported that after the
delivery of about sixty T-55s from Ukraine, the opposition issued a statement
to the effect that only eight are operable. In its turn, Ugandan government
officials point out that that is a lie, and all the purchased tanks are
in good repair. However, none of the parties questions the Ukrainian origin
of the tanks.

The T-55s are the oldest tanks the Ukrainian army have in service. As
of the beginning of this year, the Defense Ministry arsenals stored 154
such tanks. Uganda is not the subject of any sanctions, and selling weapons
to it is not forbidden.

Thus, Kyiv faces no obstacles in shipping military secondhand to the
dark continent. However, of late the Head of the State Export Control Service,
an organization responsible for licensing arms sales, has already said
that Ukraine does not sell arms in Africa. All efforts to get Ukrspetseksport,
a leading state-owned arms trading company, to comment on either the Uganda
issue or geographical priorities for Ukrainian arms sellers have been unsuccessful,
except that one of the employees said, once again, by telephone that "in
a military sense Ukraine does not have anything to do with Uganda". Ukrainian
official silence can be explained by the fact that currently the subject
of expected personnel and structural changes in the Ukrainian arms trading
system is being actively discussed in the corridors of power. Thus, in
this uncertain time officials would rather keep their mouth shut. Experts
do not rule out that the predicted changes can affect the Export Control
Service chain of command. However, primarily they mention First Deputy
Premier on Industrial Policy Anatoly Holubchenko, who also is chairman
of a exports control inter-sector commission, although they maintain that
it is absolutely irrelevant to the Ukrainian tanks in Uganda.

INCIDENTALLY

Last week, Verkhovna Rada set up a provisional investigating commission
to examine illegal sales of arms and military property, and their illegal
transfer to other countries in the period from 1991 to 1998. Arguing in
favor of such a commission, People's Deputy and Hromada member Yevhen Smyrnov
said that illegal sales of arms and military property continue, bringing
the probable violators up to $1 billion monthly in profit, reported Interfax-Ukraine.
Simple addition comes up with $12 billion a year! Against which IMF and
World Bank loans, whose vital importance is continuously repeated by the
government, look like mere alms to the poor. In fact, if the figures presented
by Mr. Smyrnov are correct, the President, government and Parliament do
not need to bother their heads with economic problems nor rack their brains
over drawing up the budget. Putting the arms trade in order would be quite
enough. However, I personally have very serious doubts that anyone besides
Mr. Smyrnov will the risk to deprive the illegal traders (if they exist)
of the chance to rake in a billion bucks a month.

Dmytro SKRYABIN, The Day

 
 

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