US turns blind eye to North Korean deal
US turns blind eye to North Korean deal
Michael Gordon and Mark Mazzetti in Washington
April 9, 2007
THREE months after the United States successfully pushed the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear test, the Bush Administration has allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea, in what appears to be a violation of the restrictions.
US officials said the arms delivery had been allowed to go through in January partly because Ethiopian troops were in the midst of a military offensive against Islamic militias in Somalia, a campaign that aided the US policy of fighting religious extremists in the Horn of Africa.
The US was still encouraging Ethiopia to wean itself from its longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap Soviet-era military equipment to supply its armed forces, and officials said Ethiopia appeared to be receptive.
But the arms deal is an example of the compromises that result from the clash of two foreign policy absolutes: the Bush Administration's commitment to fighting Islamic radicalism and its effort to starve the North Korean Government of money it could use to build up its nuclear weapons program.
Although the Administration has made counter-terrorism its top foreign policy concern since September 11, 2001,the White House has sometimes shown a willingness to tolerate misconduct by allies that it might otherwise criticise, such as human rights violations in Central Asia and anti-democratic crackdowns by some Arab nations.
It is not the first time that the Bush Administration has made an exception for allies in their dealings with North Korea.
In 2002, the Spanish military intercepted a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to Yemen. At the time, Yemen was working with the US to hunt members of al-Qaeda operating within its borders and after its government protested, the US asked that the freighter be released. Yemen said it was the last shipment from an earlier missile purchase and would not be repeated.
Several US officials said they first learnt that Ethiopia planned to receive a delivery of military hardware from North Korea when the Ethiopian Government alerted the US embassy in the capital, Addis Ababa, after the adoption on October 14 of the UN Security Council measure imposing sanctions.
"The Ethiopians came back to us and said: 'Look, we know we need to transition to different customers, but we just can't do that overnight'," said one US official, who insisted the issue had been handled properly. "They pledged to work with us at the most senior levels."
US intelligence agencies reported in late January that an Ethiopian cargo ship probably carrying tank parts and other military equipment had left a North Korean port.
The exact value of the shipment was unclear, but Ethiopia bought $US20 million worth of arms from North Korea in 2001. The US provides millions of dollars of foreign aid and some non-lethal military equipment to Ethiopia.
After a brief debate in Washington, the decision was made not to block the arms deal but to press Ethiopia not to make future purchases. The State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, declined to comment on the specifics of the arms shipment but said the US was "deeply committed to upholding and enforcing UN Security Council resolutions".
The New York Times
Copyright © 2007. Brisbane Times.
Michael Gordon and Mark Mazzetti in Washington
April 9, 2007
THREE months after the United States successfully pushed the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear test, the Bush Administration has allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea, in what appears to be a violation of the restrictions.
US officials said the arms delivery had been allowed to go through in January partly because Ethiopian troops were in the midst of a military offensive against Islamic militias in Somalia, a campaign that aided the US policy of fighting religious extremists in the Horn of Africa.
The US was still encouraging Ethiopia to wean itself from its longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap Soviet-era military equipment to supply its armed forces, and officials said Ethiopia appeared to be receptive.
But the arms deal is an example of the compromises that result from the clash of two foreign policy absolutes: the Bush Administration's commitment to fighting Islamic radicalism and its effort to starve the North Korean Government of money it could use to build up its nuclear weapons program.
Although the Administration has made counter-terrorism its top foreign policy concern since September 11, 2001,the White House has sometimes shown a willingness to tolerate misconduct by allies that it might otherwise criticise, such as human rights violations in Central Asia and anti-democratic crackdowns by some Arab nations.
It is not the first time that the Bush Administration has made an exception for allies in their dealings with North Korea.
In 2002, the Spanish military intercepted a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to Yemen. At the time, Yemen was working with the US to hunt members of al-Qaeda operating within its borders and after its government protested, the US asked that the freighter be released. Yemen said it was the last shipment from an earlier missile purchase and would not be repeated.
Several US officials said they first learnt that Ethiopia planned to receive a delivery of military hardware from North Korea when the Ethiopian Government alerted the US embassy in the capital, Addis Ababa, after the adoption on October 14 of the UN Security Council measure imposing sanctions.
"The Ethiopians came back to us and said: 'Look, we know we need to transition to different customers, but we just can't do that overnight'," said one US official, who insisted the issue had been handled properly. "They pledged to work with us at the most senior levels."
US intelligence agencies reported in late January that an Ethiopian cargo ship probably carrying tank parts and other military equipment had left a North Korean port.
The exact value of the shipment was unclear, but Ethiopia bought $US20 million worth of arms from North Korea in 2001. The US provides millions of dollars of foreign aid and some non-lethal military equipment to Ethiopia.
After a brief debate in Washington, the decision was made not to block the arms deal but to press Ethiopia not to make future purchases. The State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, declined to comment on the specifics of the arms shipment but said the US was "deeply committed to upholding and enforcing UN Security Council resolutions".
The New York Times
Copyright © 2007. Brisbane Times.
posted by Walking Contradiction at 7/01/2007 01:30:00 AM
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