Row over military spare parts

A row has erupted over a report that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had overruled Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and approved the sale of spare parts for Zimbabwe’s Hawk warplanes operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The London-based ‘Guardian’ newspaper said the sale of spare parts for Zimbabwe’s 10 Hawk aircraft contradicted Cook’s ethical foreign policy, which is supposed to deny arms to countries engaged in external aggression or internal repression.

A spokesman at the British High Commission in Zimbabwe could not confirm or deny whether the spare parts had reached Zimbabwe. “There has been an ongoing debate and there’ll be an announcement on the ‘Guardian’ story shortly,” he told IRIN on Thursday.

Zimbabwe government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said British policy has been to “squeeze” Zimbabwe out of the DRC, where it has intervened in support of the government of President Laurent-Desire Kabila. They said London had made it clear they backed the anti-Kinshasa rebels and “invasion” of the DRC by Rwanda and Uganda.

One official said he hoped Blair had “seen through that folly”.

A defence specialist in Harare told IRIN spare parts for the Hawks had been used up, and that two of the original aircraft bought from Britain in the 1980s had been cannibalised to enable the rest of the fleet to continue flying.

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has had close military ties with Britain. British training teams have helped with the integration of the armed forces, the establishment of Zimbabwe’s Command and Staff College, and logistical and administrative systems for the air force.