A South African opposition party official on Sunday accused the government of approving the sale of WMD-capable bombs to Libya, the Cape Argus reported (see GSN, June 12).
David Maynier, the Democratic Alliance's shadow defense and military veterans minister, charged that the National Conventional Arms Control Committee had an insufficient number of members present when it approved several weapons sales. Among those was the export to Libya of long-range glide bombs, which could be used to carry nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, Maynier said.
Libya is suspected of having deployed mustard agent in 1987 against neighboring Chad, and is known to have sought biological and nuclear arms as well before renouncing weapons of mass destruction in 2003. It has since dismantled its WMD production infrastructure under international supervision.
The National Conventional Arms Control Committee is in charge of preventing indigenous firms from dealing with nations with spotty human rights records or that are engaged in conflict.
Nyami Booi, Maynier's incumbent counterpart, called the charges "gossip and rumor," asserting the opposition party official stole state information and bandied it about in the media for political purposes. Maynier responded denied stealing the information: "It was brought to my attention and I believed it was in the public interest to disclose" the matter (Davis/Mkhwanazi, Cape Argus, Aug. 3).