Chief of Defence Forces, General Davis Mwamunyange
In Summary
The report said a North Korean merchant ship
that was intercepted in the Panama Canal on July 16 carrying two MiG-21s
from the 1950s was headed to Tanzania. The ship reportedly originated
from Cuba.
Dar es Salaam. The Chief of
Defence Forces, General Davis Mwamunyange, has dismissed as untrue
reports that North Korean military experts are working in Tanzania in
violation of UN sanctions against Pyongyang.
Gen Mwamunyange said the Tanzania People’s Defence
Forces (TPDF) had not engaged engineers from North Korea to repair its
Soviet-made MiG-21 fighter jets and other military aircraft as claimed in widely circulated reports.
Contrary to the reports, there had been no
pressure exerted by either the US or South Korean diplomats on TPDF to
end what are claimed to be close military relations between Tanzania and
North Korea, he said.
“There has been no communications whatsoever from
the US or South Korean governments on any such issue. We have not been
under any pressure,” Gen Mwamunyange told The Citizen last week during
the handing over of military vehicles from India. He was commenting on a
report published on August 2 by the online magazine Africa Confidential that 18 North Korean military technicians and army officers were in Mwanza repairing fighter jets.
The report said a North Korean merchant ship that
was intercepted in the Panama Canal on July 16 carrying two MiG-21s from
the 1950s was headed to Tanzania. The ship reportedly originated from
Cuba.
The publication alleged that the US and South
Korean governments were pressuring President Jakaya Kikwete’s government
to sever any military relations with North Korea.
Earlier, TPDF said it had no reason to engage North Korean technicians.
“We don’t have any aircraft or other military
equipment manufactured in North Korea. Why then should we hire their
technicians?” TPDF spokesperson Major Eric Komba told The Citizen in a
telephone interview. Maj Komba said it did not make sense to hire North
Koreans to repair Soviet-manufactured military equipment.
Africa Confidential suggests that Tanzania could be in breach of UN sanctions if indeed it was engaging with North Korea.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1718 was
adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on October
14, 2006, and imposes a series of economic and commercial sanctions on
North Korea in the aftermath of that nation’s nuclear test of October 9, 2006.
Scrutiny on North Korea became more intense
following more missile and nuclear tests by Pyongyang and its threats to
attack South Korea and the US.
Contacted for comment, Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe, while not denying or
confirming the alleged presence of the North Korean engineers, said he
doubted if Tanzania would have breached UN sanctions by hiring
technicians from that country.
“Try contacting the Minister for Defence and National Service, but I advise you to carefully read
the UN resolution in question to see if hiring technicians from North
Korea to repair warplanes amounts to violating sanctions,” Mr Membe said
in a telephone interview last week.
The UN sanctions have placed bans on imports and
exports of North Korea military equipment and “related material,
including spare parts” and any other items identified by the sanctions
committee. The section does not directly mention personnel.
Africa Confidential reported that while Pyongyang
has no diplomatic representation in Tanzania, its two senior officers
were seconded to the TPDF.
It claims that the two may also be involved in a private
company set up to import arms and quotes a US diplomat in Dar es Salaam
as saying that his country was concerned by Tanzania’s “breach” of the
UN sanctions.
“US and South Korean diplomats may step up the pressure if discreet contacts do not yield results,” the magazine quotes the diplomat saying
source: The citizen
