§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)Following consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry recently approved further licences to export military list goods to Iraq. The arms embargo against Iraq remains in place under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 (2003), with the exception of "arms and other related material required by the (Coalition Provisional) Authority to serve the purposes of this and other related resolutions".
30WSAccordingly, Her Majesty's Government consider it appropriate to grant exemptions for the export of:
- (i) smoke grenades which are to be used by private security firms contracted to provide close protection for employees of the Coalition Provisional Authority(CPA); and
- (ii) small arms ammunition which is to be provided to the Coalition Provisional Authority for use by the Ministry of the Interior in Iraq.
These exports are consistent with the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria. Future applications will continue to be assessed on a case by case basis against the UN embargo and consolidated criteria, taking into account the circumstances prevailing at the time.
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanFollowing consultations with this department, the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry issued a licence for the export to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of bomb disposal suits and equipment. This equipment will be used by the Royal Nepalese Army, who are part of the Ituri Brigade of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC).
UN Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1493 (2003), adopted on 28 July 2003, implemented an embargo on the provision of arms and any related materiel to all armed groups operating in the east of the country. Operative Paragraph 21 of the SCR provides an exemption to the embargo for "supplies to MONUC"