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Sri Lanka's government is planning to introduce a blanket ban on its nationals' involvement in officially authorised arms dealing, a state-run newspaper said. The new restrictions appear to be part of an effort by Colombo to centralise its own burgeoning weapons purchases, which in the past have been conducted through a myriad of middle-men.
The Daily News quoted President Mahinda Rajapakse's newly appointed legislator brother, Basil Rajapakse, as saying that the government had invoked provisions under tough emergency laws to ban Sri Lankans entering arms deals.
"The government is going to give effect to this regulation by converting it into (the normal) law," the paper quoted him as saying. "No Sri Lankan will be able to engage in any arms deals here or abroad in future."
The paper said the government had prepared a list of items its citizens cannot deal in, but the contents of that list were not immediately known.
Punishment for dealing in weapons was also not immediately clear. Several Sri Lankans as well as private companies act as middlemen in arranging arms deals for the security forces combating Tamil separatists.
Tamil Tiger rebels opposing the government are known to arrange arms purchases clandestinely in South East Asia as well as from former Soviet Union states. And Colombo's writ does not apply in rebel-held areas of the island's north-east.
The Sri Lankan government recently established a state-run company to undertake its arms procurements, alleging that purchases through third parties had been mired with irregularities.
The administration itself, however, is also embroiled in allegations of corruption in awarding large military contracts -- with top officials accused of receiving kick-backs from the purchase of four jet fighters from Ukraine.
AFP
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