Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Thank you for your letter of 24 May following
the Committee Meeting I attended on 22 May. I am sorry for the
delay in replying, but wished to ensure the facts were fully checked
before writing.
At the meeting I agreed to provide the Committee
with additional pieces of information in respect of the shipment
of arms referred to in the Independent article of 16 May.
The Committee had asked the date on which either I or the Foreign
Secretary was first informed about this arms shipment, the date
when officials were informed and the date of the MOD contract
with Air Foyle to facilitate the peacekeeping operation in Sierra
Leone.
I am happy to confirm that Air Foyle's involvement
in the arms shipment was restricted to making the administrative
arrangements for the flight to Burkina Faso. HM Customs and Excise
are satisfied that Air Foyle, who co-operated fully with their
enquiries, had no involvement in any onward shipment of the arms
from there to Sierra Leone. Indeed we have no conclusive proof
that the arms were shipped to Sierra Leone in breach of the arms
embargo. However, there were a number of reports in the press
and elsewhere that this was indeed the case.
The Committee asked at the meeting about a Ministry
of Defence contract with Air Foyle to supply the peacekeeping
operation in Sierra Leone. No such contract exists. The MOD has
an enabling contract with two companies which operate Antonov
124 aircraft to provide outsize airlift as and when required.
These companies are Heavylift Cargo Airlines Ltd and Air Foyle.
This contract was renewed on 1 April 1998 for a period of three
years. There are no immediate plans for the MOD to use the contract
again in connection with Sierra Leone.
On dates, the shipment from Ukraine to Burkina
Faso took place on 13 March. The FCO was aware of Air Foyle's
involvement in this shipment from 5 March. Ministers here were
informed about Air Foyle's involvement on 29 March.
As I have said, the shipment to Burkina Faso
did not in itself constitute a breach of sanctions. The UK did
not have any information of the kind that could form the basis
of an approach to the Sierra Leone Sanctions Committee, but once
reports of the onward shipment to Sierra Leone began to appear
in the press we asked the Sanctions Committee, on 16 April, to
mount their own investigation into the allegations. The Committee
did not find any new evidence that indicated that a breach of
sanctions had taken place.
In your letter to me of 24 May, you asked a
number of further questions, the first three of which relate to
British intelligence. As you are aware, the Government does not
comment on operational intelligence matters.
Your letter also asked whether the activities
of the Chartered Engineering and Technical Company were taken
up by HMG with the Gibraltarian Government, and with what result.
The responsible Gibraltarian authorities were alerted to the allegations
that the Chartered Engineering and Technical Company were involved
in the arms shipment in March 1999 and conducted their own investigation.
The Gibraltar authorities did not find evidence to support proceedings
for a breach of Gibraltarian law.
I can assure you nevertheless that we take very
seriously indeed any breach of arms embargoes and act decisively
where we can to block these.
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