South African government officials on Saturday afternoon said they could not confirm or deny reports that the SA Air Force was to ship arms to Haiti to help the embattled government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Safety and Security spokesperson Leslie Xinwa said he was in the dark about the reports and he could not reach the Minister (Charles Nqakula) who was attending a funeral in KwaZulu-Natal.
”I don’t have any information on the matter. The Minister is attending a funeral in KwaZulu-Natal and his cellphone is off,” Xinwa said.
Spokesperson for foreign affairs, the national police and the SA National Defence Force referred all calls to the Ministry of Safety and Security.
The Presidency and the Defence Ministry could not be reached for comment by 3pm on Saturday.
The Beeld newspaper reported in its Saturday edition that an SA Air Force Boeing was expected to fly to Haiti on Tuesday with a cargo of 150 R1 rifles and 5 000 bullets. A total of 200 bullet-proof jackets would form part of the shipment which would be sent to the Aristide government. The newspaper said it could not obtain any official confirmation of the report.
Meanwhile, Tony Leon, the Democratic Alliance leader, said the planned shipment could be a violation of the National Conventional Arms Control Act. In a speech made at the launch of his party’s provincial manifesto in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday he said the arms transfer had to be stopped.
Leon said that given the brutal track record of the Aristide regime in suppressing dissent, it was likely the South African arms shipment would be used ”to ill purpose”.
”We cannot even find enough bullet-proof vests to protect our own police at home, and yet we are spending millions of rand, on top of the R25-million we have already spent, to send bullet-proof vests to protect the rogue regime of Aristide.
”This shipment of arms could be a violation of the National Conventional Arms Control Act, which stipulates that arms shipments should ‘avoid contributing to internal repression, including the systematic violation or suppression of human rights and fundamental freedoms; [and] avoid transfers of conventional arms to governments that systematically violate or suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms’.
”The arms transfer to Haiti must be stopped,” he said.
On the coming election in South Africa, Leon said the DA’s political partnership with the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal was not just a marriage of convenience. He said the Coalition for Change with the IFP would allow the province to escape the centralised control of the African National Congress. – Sapa