Yugoslav dealer exported equipment to Iraq

A Yugoslav weapons dealer has exported military equipment to Iraq, and Serb experts are helping Saddam Hussein defend air space against US attacks, it was claimed today.

A top Yugoslav military official said that during a recent Nato inspection of a Bosnian Serb military factory in Bijeljina, 60 miles west of Belgrade, several documents were discovered linking the company and a major Yugoslav arms manufacturer, Yugoimport, with arms exports to Iraq.

A spokesman for the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia, Lieutenant Commander Yves Vanier, admitted that the Western military alliance ”did find something very significant.”

Vanier said a preliminary inspection of the Orao (Eagle) factory uncovered the existence of a contract linking the factory to an “unreported export of weapons systems.”

The UN Security Council imposed a strict embargo on Iraq after it invaded neighbouring Kuwait in 1990 and fired Scud missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War.

Under the sanctions regime, all sales to Iraq must be approved by the United Nations and paid for through an escrow account which controls the proceeds from Iraqi oil sales.

The sanctions cannot be lifted until weapons inspectors certify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. Countries violating the embargo could face punitive UN sanctions.

The Yugoslav Defence Ministry said it had not approved the export of arms to Iraq and that it would investigate the alleged breach of the UN arms embargo and “undertake measures against possible culprits.”

The Orao company, based in an eastern region of Bosnia controlled by Serbs, produces and exports aircraft engine parts, including parts for Russian-built MiG jets, and tools that can be used in the air defence and military industry. It also acts as a training centre for ground crews maintaining military installations.

According to the Belgrade newspaper Blic, which first reported the findings today, Nato inspectors discovered Yugoimport’s documents.

According to that report, the documents indicate that an unspecified number of Yugoslav experts are currently tasked with installing the equipment at an undisclosed Iraqi military facility.

A high-ranking Yugoslav military official confirmed the report and said that Yugoimport ”acted as an intermediary between Orao and the Iraqi government.”

“Orao did not have contacts in Iraq, so they approached Yugoimport,” he said.

Yugoimport, this Balkan country’s major arms dealer, enjoys a virtual monopoly in the export and import of arms. It is known for having had close links with Saddam’s regime during the 1990s.

According to the official, Yugoimport has also exported to Iraq “a number of machines and calibration instruments suitable for use in the aviation industry.”

Yugoimport denied the Blic report in a statement, but added “it is possible” that some Serbs have been involved in “a private business venture” with Iraq in the name of Yugoimport.

The documents uncovered by Nato also allegedly indicate that in the case of a UN inspection, Yugoslav experts currently in Iraq would dismantle the equipment within 10 days, and that the Iraqis would be expected to hide it until the inspectors are gone, Blic said.

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, now on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, allied himself with the Iraqi president. But Kostunica said the country has since severed those links.

British and local media have alleged that Yugoslav radar and weapons systems experts were using their experience from the 1999 Nato air war against Yugoslavia to help Iraq upgrade its air force.

The Yugoslav air force protected military targets in Kosovo and shot down two US aircraft, including an F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first operational “stealth” attack plane.

Under Milosevic, Yugoslavia maintained close military links with Saddam’s regime, servicing Iraqi air force MiG jets near Belgrade and taking part in the construction of Iraqi military facilities, including bunkers in presidential palaces in Baghdad.

The Yugoslav army earlier this month said it had discontinued providing military aid to Baghdad, saying it hoped to forge closer ties with Nato.