Britain Imposes Zimbabwe Arms BanBritain said on Wednesday that it is to refuse all new applications for arms and military equipment to be exported to Zimbabwe as part of its reaction to continuing violence in the country.The supply of 450 British-made Land Rover cars to the Zimbabwean police has also been put on hold until land occupations end, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the House of Commons in a statement. "In the present circumstances of spreading violence, we have resolved that from today Britain will refuse all new export license applications for arms and military equipment to Zimbabwe," Cook said. "This will include all licenses for spare parts in connection with previous contracts such as Hawk aircraft. We urgently are reviewing all existing export licenses to Zimbabwe," he said. Cook said Britain nor any other donor would fund a program of land reform in Zimbabwe unless it is conducted within the rule of law. He also insisted that any land reform program in Zimbabwe must be based on a fair price to farmers and would also need to reduce poverty among the rural poor who have no land. The foreign secretary accused that the Zimbabwean government was attempting to create a crisis over land reform in order to secure its re-election. Cook dismissed Zimbabwe's claims that its conditions for funding land reform were "colonial", saying they were the conclusions of the 1998 Land Conference hosted and chaired by the Zimbabwe Government. |
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