APPENDIX 14
Letter from the Minister of State, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office to Harry Cohen MP
EU EMBARGOES
Shortly before the end of the parliamentary
session you asked the Foreign Secretary to list the binding embargoes
agreed by the European Union since 1990, indicating for each the
period of the embargo and any arrangements made for extension
of the period of validity of export licences to those countries
to reflect the period of embargo.
The European Union has imposed a number of arms
embargoes which remain in effect. The EU arms embargoes imposed
on Afghanistan (1996), China (1989), the Democratic Republic of
Congo (then Zaire) (1993), Libya (1986) and Sudan (1994) are not
for a fixed period. Similarly the EU arms embargo on the former
Yugoslavia (1991), which the EU confirmed in 1996 as applicable
to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, is without an expiry date.
The EU Common Position on Burma, adopted in
1996, reaffirms an arms embargo first adopted in 1991. Both this
Common Position and the EU arms embargoes against Ethiopia and
Eritrea (1999) are renewable every six months and were last extended
in October 1999.
The EU arms embargo against Indonesia is of
four months duration. The embargo was imposed on 16 September
1999 and expires on 17 January 2000.
In the case of Indonesia all valid licences
covering the export of military equipment were suspended immediately
following the imposition of the embargo. The period of validity
of each of the licences affected was extended by four months at
the same time. No extensions have been made to the period of validity
of export licences in relation to any other EU embargoes.
In addition to the measures listed above the
EU has imposed arms embargoes following binding United Nations
Security Council resolutions in relation to Angola, Sierra Leone
and Iraq.
The term "EU" is used throughout,
although some of the measures were adopted under the auspices
of European Political Cooperation before the entry into force
of the Maastricht Treaty.
Can I also add some points on our record on
arms exports?
This Government has made our arms exports more
accountable and transparent than almost any other country. We
established for the very first time a new Code blocking any exports
of arms for either internal repression or external aggression;
Again for the first time we have published an
Annual Report detailing the export licences that we have agreed—deliberately
inviting scrutiny. Unlike the previous Government we have nothing
to hide and have been commended by pressure groups for such openness;
We followed this up by getting an agreement
for an EU Arms Code. We are pressing for the G8, UN etc to adopt
similar codes to achieve a much more transparent and accountable
arms regime.
7 January 2000
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