http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2005/07/17/wivory17.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/17/ixworld.htm
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Arms embargo breach threatens Ivory Coast truce
By Daniel Foggo
(Filed: 17/07/2005)
Former Soviet bloc countries are breaking the international embargo
on supplying arms to war-torn Ivory Coast, according to United
Nations peacekeepers.
The discovery, after a tip-off, of 22 military vehicles at the port
in the capital, Abidjan, was described by UN commander Gen Abdoulaye
Fall in a leaked report as "clearly a blatant violation of the arms
embargo".
In the past the Ivory Coast bought weapons from Belarus
The embargo, affecting both government and rebel forces, has been in
place since November to try to restore stability to the country
where rebel groups and those loyal to the government have been
fighting since 2002.
The seizure by UN troops last month has created alarm within the
organisation that the embargo, and the fragile truce between the
factions could collapse.
Gen Fall, who commands 6,000 troops, said there was evidence to
suggest that the vehicles, which had been ordered by Ivory Coast's
army and brought in on a ship flying a Danish flag, had come from
Russia. He urged that an official protest should be lodged.
In his report, which has been seen by Adamantios Vassilakis, the
chairman of the UN Ivory Coast security council committee, Gen Fall
said: "If we do not wish to see the work of UNOCI [UN Operation in
Cote d'Ivoire] made less credible, this conclusion should lead to
an 'official protest' procedure and the seizure of the vehicles".
The apparent violation of the embargo is not the only such example.
In a separate document, Gen Fall reported that a man "speaking
Russian on his mobile phone" was seen working on government-owned
aircraft at Abidjan airport, with three other engineers.
And on another occasion five men of "East European origin" were seen
inspecting military aircraft.
Both matters are still under investigation by the UN but its
peacekeepers' attempts to enforce the arms embargo are being
thwarted by a refusal from some military factions to allow access to
their barracks and bases.
About 40,500 rebels from the north, and 15,000 government soldiers
and militiamen in the south, are due to disarm by early October, to
allow presidential elections to go ahead that month.
So far, however, only minimal arms from the multiple militias have
been handed in to the UN peacekeeping force and the truce is looking
increasingly tenuous.
The government's commitment to the embargo is central to the future
of the country, which is the world's largest producer of cocoa and
has a relatively buoyant economy. In the past, Ivory Coast has
enjoyed a cosy business relationship with former Soviet countries,
buying weapons from Belarus in particular for the past three years.
In 2004 it imported an infantry fighting vehicle, 13 amphibious
scout cars, six armoured personnel carriers, six multiple rocket
launchers, 10 BM37 mortars and two Su25 fighter jets.
Attempts to determine the exact origin of the intercepted shipment
of vehicles were continuing last week.
In a letter to Mr Vassilakis, Jean-Marie Guehenno, the under-
secretary general for peacekeeping operations, said that the
sanctions committee "may wish to consider approaching the owners of
the vessel responsible for transporting the vehicles to determine
the country of origin."
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