M’tumuke says Mozambique has not bought any weapons from North Korea

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M’tumuke says Mozambique has not bought any weapons from North Korea

11:41 CAT | 28 Sep 2017

O País

Mozambique’s defence minister Atanásio M’tumuke says the country has not bought any weapons from North Korea and is surprised by information saying it has. The minister says he is waiting for United Nations experts to check whether or not the country has violated the sanctions imposed on North Korea.

“What they are saying about armaments, I don’t understand, because Mozambique is free. They can come here to verify and check. Let us not repeat the story of saying that we are looking for a thief, to say later that, after all, we failed and this was not the thief. This is the story. Therefore, we are ready to receive any commission that comes. We are calm, we have no problems,” M’tumuke told O País.

M’tumuke’s statements come two weeks after the United Nations revealed that it was investigating Mozambique and other African countries for buying weapons from North Korea. “The concerns they have expressed are concerns that they themselves might be able to satisfy on the ground … We have nothing [to hide],” M’tumuke said.

The United Nations banned all member countries from signing military supply contracts or arms deals with North Korea ten years ago because of their nuclear activities.

In addition to Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Senegal are under investigations as sanctions violators.

Regarding Mozambique, the UN is investigating the sale of a mobile surface-to-air missile and radar defence system by Korean company Haegeumgang Trading Corporation to Monte Binga, which is controlled by the government.

“Mozambique has not yet provided a substantive response to this panel’s inquiry. Two Member States have stated that Haegeumgang is active in Mozambique and Tanzania. One Member State specified that Haegeumgang supplied the same type of surface-to-air missiles to Mozambique and Tanzania,” the report is quoted by German news agency Deutsche Welle as saying.

Also Read: Mozambique responds to claims of violating UN sanctions on North Korea

Also Read: UN “conducting investigations” in Mozambique, 7 more countries, over embargo on N. Korea

The multiple nuclear tests ordered by the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have re-vitalised suspicions about the nature of North Korea’s cooperation with the African continent, at a time when the UN Security Council has just approved new sanctions against North Korea. The new measures cover the country’s textile exports and limit shipments of petroleum products. These sanctions were adopted just over a week after the recent nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang.

Training soldiers in Angola

The UN has learned that Angola’s presidential guard and other units have been trained by people linked to the North Korean government, and North Korean diplomats accredited in Angola are being investigated. They are said to work for Green Pine Corporation, which has been subject to sanctions by the international community since 2012 and accounts for almost half of the weapons exported by North Korea.

UN experts believe that Kim Hyok Chan, a Korean diplomat in Angola, is a representative of the Green Pine Corporation responsible for the refurbishment of vessels of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea navy, [and] travelled with his colleague Jon Chol Young to Angola and Sri Lanka in a ‘failed attempt’ to sell military ships. The same report gives an account of the supply of North Korean weapons to the regime of Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), although the Kinshasa government has denied the charge.

UN Security Council full report here

Source: O País