Share & more
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced this week that his country would tighten arms export controls with immediate effect to countries involved in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Blair said Britain would not grant export licences for new equipment, even if it had civilian applications, "where there is a clear risk that it would be used in the DRC". "We will remove intervening countries from the coverage of open licences for any equipment that might be deployed in the DRC and will not issue new open individual export licences for such equipment to any
of these countries," Blair was quoted as saying in news reports.
The countries involved in the DRC war are Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe who are fighting on the side of Laurent-Desire Kabila's government, while Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda support the rebels fighting to overthrow Kabila's administration.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions