Researchers say arms
trading has boomed in the decade since the Angolagate scandal was uncovered.
That's partly due to heightened supply. As ex-Soviet republics emerged as
economic actors in their own right, several countries developed national arms
industries, refitting weapons from their stocks and manufacturing new weapons
of their own. Those industries have taken off in recent years. Ukraine has
about 6 million light weapons from Soviet stockpiles, and has modernized tanks,
anti-aircraft missiles and other weaponry, says Hugh Griffiths, an expert on
illicit weapons at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. A
dramatic example of Ukraine's reach is playing out off the Horn of Africa,
where a major shipment of Ukrainian weapons, including 33 T-72 tanks, was hijacked by Somali pirates and remains a vexing military and diplomatic
problem.
"It is very
difficult to stop arms trafficking, because there is no control," says
Griffiths, who has researched Ukraine's arsenal for the U.S. government. Although
NATO funds Ukraine to destroy its stockpiles, "the Ukrainians realize how
much money they can make by selling surplus weapons," he says. In an
action that broke no laws, the Ukrainians shipped about 40,000 Kalashnikov
rifles to Kenya last year during the tense standoff following the
country's disputed presidential election.
As world prices for
oil and minerals have soared in recent years, rebel groups in Chad, Sudan, Congo
and elsewhere are trading valuable oil and mineral deposits in their regions
for arms. Rather than seek the backing of friendly foreign officials — as Dos
Santos allegedly did in the mid-'90s — combatants can now bulk up on their own
dime. "Each group raises its own funds and then negotiates to buy
weapons," says Will Hartley of Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center in
London. "Gone are the days when governments will send weapons and cash
into African states."
That makes arms deals far
more difficult to track. But Griffiths says one tactic could work in nabbing
arms traffickers: the "Al Capone method." When the U.S. justice
system failed to convict the 1930s mobster for racketeering and murder charges,
he was finally run in for tax evasion. Griffiths says arms traffickers have one
obvious vulnerability: their need to ship arms on boats and planes, most of
which require registration. When the E.U. introduced strict safety standards
for air-cargo carriers two years ago, its leaders weren't thinking of arms
dealers. Yet of the scores of companies they have since cited for violating
safety rules, about 80 have been named in U.N. and human-rights reports as
known arms shippers. "About 53 companies have been forced to close
down," according to Griffiths, who released his findings in a report on
Monday. Griffiths says enforcing similar rules against ships could put several
arms traffickers out of business entirely. Until then, if you need weapons in
Africa, "there are plenty of arms out there — so long as you have the
money to pay for it," he says.
[time.com]
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