By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BRUSSELS, June 3rd, 2005
Recent Dutch warship sales to Indonesia violate the
European Union's code of conduct on exporting arms, Raul Romeva, the
European Parliament's rapporteur on military exports, said on June 2.
"These projects clearly violate the code of conduct on arms exports,
which prohibits arms supplies to unstable regions, countries in
conflict and countries in which respect for human rights is
disregarded," he said.
According to a statement from the Greens group in parliament, of which
Romeva is a member, the Dutch government has authorized a national
shipyard to build two small corvette warships for the Indonesian navy.
The project comes on top of an earlier order for two corvettes, and is
valued at up to 800 million euros (980 million dollars). Another Dutch
company is also modernizing a military vessel previously delivered to
Indonesia.
"In the Aceh conflict in 2003 similar ships were used by the Indonesian
authorities during coastal assaults. That issue has not been solved yet
and Indonesia is meanwhile ravaged by internal conflicts," Romeva said.
Rebels in Aceh, Indonesia's westernmost province, have been fighting
for independence for three decades. The conflict has left more than
12,000 dead. "It is shocking that so soon after the devastating tsunami
an EU member state would encourage Indonesia to spend hundreds of
millions of euros on new warships," Romeva said, referring to the
December 26 quake-triggered disaster that killed nearly 300,000 people
across the Indian Ocean.
He said other EU states are also supplying military equipment to
Indonesia, which is a former Dutch colony.
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