Britain’s arms deals with Sri Lanka revealed

Ben Quinn
London Guardian
February 18, 2013

Small arms weaponry, ammunition and various other military equipment were among millions of pounds’ worth of goods exported last year from Britain to Sri Lanka under licences for arms and other closely regulated exports.

Statistics taken from the British government’s own database for strategic export controls show items ranging from assault rifles and shotguns through to weapons sights, pistols and ammunition were sold last year to the South Asian nation’s government, which has been accused of extensive human rights violations in relation to its treatment of its Tamil minority and the suppression of armed separatists, who have also been accused of abuses.

More than £2m worth of sales last year fell into the “ML1″ category – which is used by the government to denote small arms and weapons – according to figures scraped from the government’s database for strategic export controls by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).

Sri Lanka is listed by the Foreign Office as a “country of concern” because of its human rights record.

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This article was posted: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 12:55 pm

Tags: foreign affairs, government corruption, war

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