THE GOVERNMENT yesterday confirmed that two Cyprus-based companies had been named as central to the supply of illicit arms to rebels of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
And Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou insisted that Cyprus had responded faster and more positively to requests for information than several of the other countries involved in the UN probe.
Papapetrou named the companies allegedly involved as Skysec Secretarial Ltd, and Armimplex Hytech Ltd.
In its report, the UN named Skysec and Armitech, and said the “central role played by the brokering companies in the procurement of arms by UNITA is overwhelming and cannot be overestimated.”
Papetrou, however, did not mention two other Cyprus-registered firms named by the UN, Dunford-Avia Progress Ltd (Cyprus) and Global Omarus Technology Ltd, which eventually changed its name to EMM Arab System Ltd. (Cyprus).
Both firms are alleged to have traded in arms to Sri Lanka in the mid-1990s. The UN is concerned not only about continued arms trading, but also about the location of funds in connection with the illicit traffic.
“The government was informed about the report of the UN Monitoring Mechanism on Angola Sanctions which was circulated on April 18 and is being studied,” Papapetrou said yesterday.
He said that Cyprus had responded immediately to the request for information in December, when the initial report came out. The information was passed on by Cyprus` permanent representative to the UN in New York, Papapetrou said.
“The December report referred to some persons, not Cypriots, who were sending guns to Sierra Leone,” he said, adding that Cyprus implemented all relevant UN resolutions and sanctions.
Angola’s UNITA rebels are currently under arms, oil and diamond-trade sanctions for conducting their protracted civil war against the central government. Sanctions were first imposed in 1993 and the diamond ban in 1998.
“From all the countries that were asked for information before the report was drawn up, Cyprus acted immediately, positively and effectively,” Papapetrou said, without giving details.
“And as far as the companies mentioned in the report are concerned, these are overseas and there is no involvement of Cypriot interests.”
According to the UN report, the arms were exported via the small West African state of Togo with the aid of false end-user certificates.
The UN said that KAS Engineering was administered by Skysec. The panel also identified four other firms, one each in Cyprus, the UK, Israel and the Bahamas.
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