Arms shipment seized in Bulgaria

An arms shipment allegedly destined for Eritrea was seized by local authorities in Bulgaria, news agencies reported on Monday. The aircraft, carrying 10 tonnes of Czech-made Kalashnikov assault rifles and six cannons, was grounded at Bulgaria’s Burgas airport last week after its pilot requested permission to take off for Eritrea.

The weapons, officially destined for the former Soviet republic of Georgia, originated in Mosnov, in Ostrava about 260 km east of Prague. It was unclear why the weapons ended up in Bulgaria and who ordered the pilot to fly them to Africa, said Associated Press (AP). Czech government officials denied that their country was exporting arms to Eritrea, saying the weapons were legally sold to Georgia by a Czech company. The Czech foreign ministry, Ales Popisil, was quoted by AP as saying that once the shipment had left Czech territory it “was not our business any more”.

The Eritrean deputy head of mission in Nairobi, Temedhin Temariam, told IRIN that Eritrea had “nothing to do with this plane”. Eritrea was more interested in strengthening the peace process than buying arms, he said. “Right now we are busy with reconciliation and peace-building in the region, and are not preparing for war,” he added. Temedhin told IRIN that Eritrea was “in no hurry to have the [arms] embargo lifted”. A UN embargo on arms sales to Ethiopia and Eritrea was imposed last year in an effort to end the neighbours’ two-year border war, and is set to expire on 17 May. AP quoted the US acting ambassador to the UN, James Cunningham, as saying the embargo was not likely to be renewed.