UN says Kenya secretly ships arms

Videos
Photos

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-05 20:12

NAIROBI - The United Nations has said that a total of 77 tanks and 15 jet fighters were secretly imported by Kenya last year alone.

According to official documents from the United Nations published by the Sunday Nation newspaper, two rocket launchers and more than 40,000 automatic rifles and machine guns were also brought in.

Yet the Kenyan government has not reported its arms purchases to the United Nations as required by international agreements. Instead, Kenya told the UN it had not imported any arms at all, the documents were quoted as saying.

According to the newspaper, the purchases are detailed in a report by Ukraine to the United Nations in which it said it had exported the tanks and guns, among other weapons.

"The jet fighter imports from Jordan are shown in a report published on the internet this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute which tracks the international movement of arms," said the newspaper.

Ukraine's reports of exports to Kenya were filed by the source country to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, UNROCA.

The revelations came as mystery persists in the country over the ownership of a military hardware aboard the Ukrainian ship which was hijacked off Somalia late last month.

The MV Faina is currently moored off Somalia's coast close to the town of Hoboyo. There have been conflicting reports of where the Faina and its cargo are destined.

Previous page 1 2 3 Next Page