Sir, The British Government sees no problem in permitting Vickers to sell 80 tanks to the unelected Nigerian military dictator, Abacha, to assist in what the Nigerian Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka describes as the ethnic cleansing of the Ogoni people. Value to the British exchequer £150 million. Cost to the Ogoni people war, displacement, destruction, not to mention the strengthening of Abacha's power over the Nigerian people.
The British Government sees no problem in permitting British Aerospace to sell 24 Hawk fighter jets to the unelected military dictator Suharto in Indonesia, violator of repeated UN resolutions to withdraw from its illegal occupation of East Timor, where 200,000 people have been killed by Indonesian forces. Value to the British exchequer £300 million. Cost to the people of East Timor increased suffering, further isolation, not to mention the strengthening of Suharto's power over the Indonesian people.
These are transactions typical of the kind made all the time by British arms manufacturers, assisted and licensed by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office.
Unlike Nigeria and Indonesia, Northern Ireland has enjoyed nearly a year and a half of peace, albeit an uneasy one. But the British Government, so willing to actively arm terrorist dictators in their war making in other parts off the world, suddenly discovers moral high ground and insists that illegally held weapons must be decommissioned before talks can take place. And the fragile peace, worked for selflessly by so many people, is gravely threatened.
The British Government seems, to deal very profitably in war. It seems far more ambivalent and uncomfortable in dealing with peace. Yours, etc Lower Hollybank Avenue, Dublin 6.