Arms control body rejects DA's claims - Haiti

[seemslikeadream]

March 08, 2004, 15:59

The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) has rejected claims made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) regarding South African arms sales to Haiti. In a statement today, the NCACC said it had approved the sale of "a modest amount of material", as well as bulletproof vests, for the police force of the Haitian government to assist in maintaining safety and security.

"Accusations of impropriety by the DA's (federal council chairperson) Mr James Selfe, as reported in the press, are simply untrue.

"First, Selfe claims that the NCACC did not apply the criteria of the (National Conventional Arms Control) Act. This claim is false.

"When we reviewed the request from the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a legitimate regional body representing 15 nations, we applied the relevant criteria of the act," the statement said. "Reviewing arms sales on a case-by-case basis, as the act requires, we found that this case met the standards of contributing to regional security, which was the basis of the request from Caricom, and the protection of the national sovereignty of a member country of the United Nations with a democratically-elected government."

http://www.sabcnews.com/politics/government/0,2172,75454,00.html


NATIONAL


DA's Haiti arms claims rejected

Cape Town, South Africa

08 March 2004 16:40


The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) on Monday rejected claims made by the Democratic Alliance regarding South African arms sales to Haiti.

In a statement, the NCACC said it had approved the sale of "a modest amount of material", as well as bulletproof vests, for the police force of the Haitian government to assist in maintaining safety and security.

"Accusations of impropriety by the DA's Mr James Selfe, as reported in the press, are simply untrue.

"First, Selfe claims that the NCACC did not apply the criteria of the Act. This claim is false.

"When we reviewed the request from the Caribbean Community , a legitimate regional body representing 15 nations, we applied the relevant criteria of the Act," the statement said.

"Reviewing arms sales on a case-by-case basis, as the Act requires, we found that this case met the standards of contributing to regional security, which was the basis of the request from Caricom, and the protection of the national sovereignty of a member country of the United Nations with a democratically elected government."

Secondly, Selfe claimed that nothing in the Act provided for "assisting a sovereign state in maintaining its territorial integrity".

"This claim is false. Selfe narrows the meaning of the Act, which explicitly requires also the NCACC to 'take into account the inherent right of individual and collective self-defence of all sovereign countries in terms of the United Nations Charter'.
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=32364

[bemildred]

1. "a modest amount of material"

Quite modest from what I have read, one might say minimal.

[seemslikeadream]

2. DA gets to bottom of Haiti arms fiasco

Posted Mon, 08 Mar 2004

The Democratic Alliance is using the Promotion of Access to Information Act to "get to the bottom of the Haiti arms shipment fiasco", DA federal council chairperson James Selfe said on Monday.

"We have today submitted a request to the Department of Defence in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act for the records pertaining to the National Conventional Arms Control Committee's (NCACC) approval of the shipment of arms to Haiti," he said in a statement.

On Sunday, Education Minister and NCACC chairman Kader Asmal said the shipment left South Africa with the full consent of the committee.

http://iafrica.com/news/sa/308224.htm