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Weapons Flow to Poor Countries |
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By Haider Rizvi*
As a U.S.-led war against Iraq looms,
peace activists warn about the "silent" flow of arms from
the weapons exporters of the industrialized North throughout the
developing South.
UNITED NATIONS -
In the name of war against terrorism the United States government
is boosting arms sales to developing countries, undermining international
efforts towards peace and sustainable development, say defense industry
watchdog groups and peace activists.
The United States continues to be the world's
leading weapons supplier. In 2001, it held a 45.6-percent share
of the estimated 21.3-billion-dollar global arms market, according
to the U.S.-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS), an independent
think-tank that monitors the weapons business worldwide.
Noting that the George W. Bush administration
approved arms exports and military aid to 170 countries in 2001,
researchers say it seems Washington has launched "a quiet campaign"
to make sure the supply of weapons keeps flowing.
That year, the developing world took in 67.6
percent of the weapons sold, with Saudi Arabia, China and Taiwan
the top destinations.
"The United States isn't too choosy about
who gets these goodies," comments FAS researcher Tamar Gabelnick,
referring to the Bush administration's policy of lifting weapons
restrictions on countries that were previously ineligible to receive
this type of U.S. export.
The United States delivered 12 billion dollars
in commercial and government-to-government arms sales in 2001 to
154 countries, most of them burdened with hunger, disease and illiteracy.
Shortly after the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,
the Bush administration decided to remove restrictions on arms or
military assistance to Armenia, Azerbaijan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan
and Yugoslavia.
Other countries that are set to receive military
aid include Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Philippines, Yemen, Djibouti,
and Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government is much more
hesitant about increasing its international development aid for
the poor countries of the world.
The Bush administration issued a statement
last week that it plans to increase the amount for foreign assistance
by introducing a new program that would "begin overhauling
the way America distributes aid to the poorest countries."
But there are strings attached.
Through this initiative, known as the Millennium
Challenge Account, the United States will provide more assistance
to those countries that meet "a rigorous set of performance
criteria."
According to the New York Times, in order to
be eligible, the countries "will have to demonstrate a desire
and ability to control corruption, defend political rights, invest
in education and health and promote free trade, among other things."
"This is about creating countries that
can prove to the United States that they are the deserving poor,"
Zia Mian, professor of global security and environment at Princeton
University, told Tierramérica.
But the proliferation of arms and military
assistance are quite another story.
"It is an alarming trend," says Rachel
Stohl, a senior analyst at the U.S.-based Center for Defense Information
(CDI). "The United States is more willing than ever to sell
or give away weapons to countries that have pledged assistance in
the global war on terror."
CDI analysts say the United States has made
billions of dollars worth of arms deals to strategic countries,
including a more than one-billion-dollar sale of fighter jets and
missiles to Oman, a tiny state in the Persian Gulf region and nearly
400 million dollars in missiles to Egypt.
"These sales are just the tip of ice berg,"
says Stohl.
"After the Gulf War in 1991, arms export
to the Middle East skyrocketed. The recent display of force with
American weaponry could lead to another spike in the near future,"
she added
Some observers see the growing weapons sales
and military assistance to more and more countries as part of Washington's
efforts to protect its access to oil in many parts of the world,
a move that contradicts world's quest for sustainable energy resources.
Oil interests may explain why the United States
is sending hundreds of soldiers and millions of dollars to the republic
of Georgia.
Peace groups say one way to move towards sustainable
development is to stop the flow of weapons from industrialized countries
to developing countries, where most people live on less than a dollar
day.
In the past decade, developing countries spent
more than 200 billion dollars on weapons, according to CDI. In the
last year alone, 37 armed took place worldwide.
Several reports indicate that the United States
is spending two billion dollars a month on its military effort abroad
and at home.
To give this figure context it can be noted
that access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation for more
than a billion people in the developing world -- a sixth of humanity
-- would cost less than two billion dollars a month, according to
the last International Conference on Water.
* Haider Rizvi is an IPS contributor.
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