US Arms Reaching Chad Cia Israel

France probes US aviation firm for trafficking arms to Chad after being refitted in Israel.

First Published 2008-12-09
Courtesy Of Middle-East-Online

PARIS - French authorities are investigating a US aviation firm, Griffon Aerospace, on suspicion of selling arms illegally to Chad, a judicial official said Tuesday.

According to investigators, the firm -- which has a branch near Paris -- purchased decommissioned US military planes in 2007, had them refitted in Israel and sold them to Chad, which was battling a rebel onslaught.

Acting on a tip off, the Paris prosecutor's office launched a probe in July to find whether the company's French office played a role in the deal, in which case it could be in violation of French law, the official said.

France bans the sale of military equipment without prior government authorisation.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that Griffon Aerospace applied for an arms sales permit from the French defence ministry in April 2007 but was turned down in July this year.

The US firm, based in Alabama, last year secured a 10-million-euro (13-million-dollar) Chadian government contract covering pilot training and aircraft parts and maintenance.

In November, UN experts have recommended that an arms embargo on Darfur be extended to all of Sudan as well as neighboring Chad.

The Chadian government is often accused of helping to fuel the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur by arming and supporting rebels against the central government.

The hard-hitting experts' report, covering the year up to September 2008, noted "continued flagrant violations of the arms embargo by all parties in Darfur," allowing continued attacks by both sides inside and outside the region.

"Arms and related military materiel delivered to Chad and the Sudan outside of the provisions of the embargo and the territory concerned by it are diverted into Darfur and fuel the conflict."

Emphasizing the wider regional nature of the conflict, the report said it had become part of a proxy war between Sudan and Chad, with both countries backing rebel groups that had attacked each other's capitals over the past year.

A lengthy analysis of weapons found in Darfur failed to trace the origin of all of them but said some light arms and ammunition had been part of legal deliveries by various countries to Chad, among others.

The commander of the UN-led peacekeeping force in Darfur, General Martin Agwai, said in October that mistakes by the international community have prolonged the conflict and that there is no immediate prospect for peace.

The Darfur conflict broke out in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum. Since then, the conflict has disintegrated into a maze of fraying rebel groups, banditry, tribal conflict and flip-flopping militias.

The United Nations has said 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.