The Nepalese Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, may have been in town last week, but his visit went unnoticed by even the local press. His meeting with the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, was a low-key affair. Nepal itself, however, was making banner headlines during his three-day visit.
This is because the news that Belgium?s coalition government had licensed the sale of 5,500 automatic rifles to Nepal on July 11 had just become public knowledge. So great was the uproar over this particular sale, that news that the government had approved, on July 18, the sale of arms to both India and Pakistan was mentioned only in passing, and no details were forthcoming. Prime Minister Deuba also called on Mr Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 15-nation European Union (EU), and his colleague Chris Patten, the Commissioner for External Relations.
The week before the Prime Minister?s visit, the Comm-ission had approved a $6,15,000 aid package for Nepal, aimed at reducing the impact of the current conflict on long-term EU development assistance programmes. Many of the EU-funded projects are located in, or close to, the regions largely under the Maoist influence, which puts their successful completion at risk.
The Belgian government may well have avoided the political crisis over the arms sales to Nepal had it consulted Commissioner Patten, whose offices are literally just down the road from the offices of the country?s Prime Minister.
Whether these consultations would have resulted in the government refusing to grant the necessary export licence is another matter.
The fact is that much of the Belgian arms industry specialising in military hardware is located in the French-speaking half of the country, which today is not as well-off as the Dutch- speaking half. It was justified by the Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, on moral grounds. Pointing out that Nepal had ?fallen victim to guerrillas who have had recourse to kidnapping, torture and terrorist attacks,? he claimed, ?it is ethical to give a democratic regime the chance to defend itself.?
The Foreign Minister perhaps should have consulted the EU authorities, given that the 15 EU governments, including the Belgian, adopted in 1998 a code of conduct which bans arms sales if the arms in question can be used for internal repression or are likely to worsen or lengthen an existing armed conflict. The code, although probably more restrictive than Belgian legislation on arms sales, is not binding. Even so, a meeting with Commissioner Patten would have cast light on the situation in Nepal.
The EU published its own conflict prevention assessment report on Nepal in January. It noted that the ?People?s War? declared by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had developed into ?a protracted internal war,? to the point where the country was ?sinking into civil war.? The report attributed the conflict to a complex web of interacting factors, including uneven development within Nepal, endemic corruption, the politics of the Palace, and human rights abuse. It noted that while the ?Maoists appear involved in systematic human rights abuse,? the response of the security services also has been ?extremely abusive.?
The EU mission proposed actions directed for the present towards conflict containment and at laying the groundwork for the progressive resolution of the conflict. These actions would be undertaken in the framework of the EU programme for preventing violent conflicts, adopted some 15 months ago. The programme calls for a range of activities, including political dialogue, development assistance and trade policy instruments. As a least developed country, Nepal?s exports to the EU already enjoy duty-free and quota-free entry. During his meeting with Prime Minister Deuba the European Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, proposed an aid package of some $15 million a year, over the next five years. At the same time he accepted the Prime Minister?s offer to send observers to monitor the country?s general elections on November 13.
The overall goal of EU development cooperation with Nepal is growth through poverty alleviation. EU funded projects are in the areas of irrigation and rural development, animal health, watershed management and primary education. Under the programme adopted on August 20, the EU will encourage local mediation efforts in mid-western Nepal, even while addressing the needs of marginalised social groups in this region and in the Terai. These are the groups among which the Maoists have been most successful in recruiting support.
The Belgian foreign ministry?s own reports painted a far from rosy picture of the situation in Nepal, according to the press here. However, the news of the sale of 5,500 automatic rifles to Nepal made the headlines because the members of the inner cabinet that authorised it included a representative of the Greens party, the minister for consumer affairs, health and the environment, Ms Magda Aelvoet. The uproar this caused within the party forced Ms Aelvoet to resign on personal grounds. The Greens remain a part of the government coalition; indeed her successor has not challenged the grant of the export licence. He has insisted, however, that the delivery of the rifles should take place only after the November 13 elections in Nepal.
Belgium is not a country you normally associate with arms sales to the developing countries, although the port of Antwerp is believed to be an important staging post for arms shipments to countries beset with local conflicts. Like many colonial powers, Belgium once had a flourishing arms industry, but one of its biggest manufacturer of small arms was reduced several years ago to adding tennis rackets to its product range. In its heyday, the company flaunted the name Fabrique Nationale des Armes de Guerre, reduced today to the two letters FN.
This is the company which won the Nepalese order for automatic rifles. Last year the Belgian government granted 917 licences for arms exports, for a total of some $850 million. The total probably included, for example, electronic equipment which can be used for both civilian and military purposes.