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UK to refuse all future arms licences for Libya, says minister

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Mar 16, IRNA -- The British government is unable to confirm whether Libya has used UK arms against rebel opponents, but says that it will refuse all future applications for military and security equipment for Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

Foreign Office Minister Lord Howell said that the British government was “aware of claims that UK-supplied equipment has been used to suppress protestors and demonstrators in Libya.”

“We received a specific report on 19 February 2011 that armoured vehicles, supplied to the Libyan police by a UK exporter as part of a training programme, were being used by pro-Gaddafi forces in Benghazi,” Howell said.

“But, given the closure of our embassy, it has not been possible to confirm this report or other claims,” he said in a parliamentary reply published Wednesday.

The British government ordered a review of arms sales Last month after being criticised for issuing licenses for supplying deadly crowd control ammunition and chemicals to Libya as well as Bahrain that lead to the cancellation of more than 150 arms licences for Arab states.

“Given the deplorable and unacceptable levels of violence in Libya, all licences for equipment that could be used for internal repression have been revoked, and we will refuse all future applications for military and security related goods and technology for the Gaddafi regime,” Howells said.

“This policy has now been reinforced by the implementation of a UN arms embargo against Libya,” he added.

Prime Minister David Cameron was urged on Monday by former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind to arms opposition groups in Libya, saying that it was possible through the appointment of a sanctions committee following the recent UN embargo.

In response, Cameron said it was an “ingenious argument” but that he was “not sure it is an opinion that is shared by all other lawyers” given the wording of the UN resolution.