Britain tightens controls on arms' exports

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday announced a tightening of arms' export controls to countries involved in the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Reuters quoted Blair as saying that a number of key changes had been introduced to strengthen export controls which would take effect "immediately". He reportedly said that Britain would not grant export licences for new military dual-use equipment "where there is a clear risk that it would be used in DRC". Dual-use equipment means equipment which may also have civilian uses.

"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," he said.

The new directive will affect DRC, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. Previous British arms deals with Zimbabwe attracted criticism from human rights groups and the opposition.

For its part, Burundi countered that it would be affected "positively" by Blair's directive. "The rebels in our country get their arms from Zimbabwe and also the DRC, so this will mean they don't get the arms," Burundi Army
Spokesman Colonel Longin Minani told IRIN on Thursday. "Otherwise we will not be affected because we are not involved in the DRC," he said.