Africa: Burundian Cleric Decries Havoc of Foreign Arms
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Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
4 July 2008
Posted to the web 4 July 2008
Berlin
A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation led by the Anglican Archbishop of Burundi raised questions about German arms sales and about whether wars can ever solve the world's problems.
Germany is one of the countries to which the WCC, which comprises 349 churches worldwide, is sending 'Living Letters' teams to learn about experiences of non-violence.
"Does Germany have to be the EU arms sales champion?" asked WCC team leader Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of the Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi. The team visited the Defence Ministry in Berlin on Tuesday.
Ntahoturi referred to the genocide in his own country, and conflicts in Sudan, Zimbabwe, Somalia and the Congo. The civil wars were waged with weapons from outside Africa. A mere fraction of the money spent on them could, he claimed, help Africa to combat diseases such as malaria or the extensive poverty affecting many sections of the population.
State Secretary Christian Schmidt who received the delegation explained that the high level of arms sales was a result of expensive weapons manufactured in Germany, such as submarines, warships and aircraft. The highest proportion of arms sold goes to NATO allies, he added. German law on armaments control expressly forbids the delivery of arms to areas of conflict. That applied also to onward sales.
Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary until the end of 2003, indicated that in Africa it is small arms that are the problem. The weapons, from pistols to Kalashnikovs, were smuggled in large quantities into Africa, he stated, and were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
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