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| Kathmandu, Friday January 09, 2004 Paush 25, 2059. |
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‘India inspected weapons’
RNA finally gets delivery of 500 Belgian Minimis
By Surendra Phuyal
KATHMANDU, Jan 8 A Silkway Airways cargo plane
carrying the first shipment of Minimi machine guns arrived in Kathmandu via New Delhi late
today from Central Asia, more than three weeks after the Belgian government announced the
dispatch.
Sources in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal
(CAAN) said that the plane landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport at six pm. The
aircraft took off from New Delhi but not before the Indian authorities had inspected the
weapons, highly placed official sources told The Katmandu Post.
However, more details about the inspection by
the Indian authorities in Delhi could not be obtained from the Indian Embassy in
Kathmandu.
But CAAN sources confirmed the report, saying
that India granted permission to use its airspace to the arms carrier only ‘on
condition that the plane touches down in India before entering Nepal’.
The Royal Nepalese Embassy in India had to
re-apply on behalf of the Belgian government and Silkway Airways late last month to get
the overflying permission to fly the aircraft into Nepal.
"The plane came here via New Delhi from
Azerbaizan," a CAAN official told The Kathmandu Post. "The plane stopped in New
Delhi for more than two hours." Added a confidential source in the RNA,
"Finally, they (Indian authorities) managed to inspect our arms."
As per the Euro 25 million deal, the Belgium
manufacturer, Fabrique Nationale Herstal, is to deliver 5,500 Minimi machine guns to the
RNA. Belgian news media reports say that Belgium is planning to supply the arms in three
more phases. While the second shipment will come later this year, the remaining two
consignments will be delivered in 2004 and 2005.
According to information culled from the
Internet, the Minimi belt-fed machine gun can be mounted on tripods and vehicle mounts to
provide 1,000 rounds per minute firepower up to 1,000-metre range.
The arms delivery was made after two groups of
Belgian observers that visited Nepal recently submitted their reports about the overall
human rights situation in Nepal. The delivery of the shipment was made, just when the
Belgian parliament prepared to pass a stricter arms sales law, and a pro-Maoist Nepalese
organisation there protested against the delivery.
The deal has remained controversial all along.
In August, the Belgian government was rocked when one of its allies in the ruling Rainbow
Coalition protested against the arms delivery to a country, where democracy and human
rights were not very positive. The row also saw the resignation of senior cabinet
minister, Magda Aelvoet.
Before the 500 Minimis, the RNA got a shipment
of 3,000 US-made M-16 rifles. The arms arrived in Nepal last Sunday. The RNA, which joined
the civilian and the armed police forces to fight Maoist insurgents in November 2001,
plans to fully equip its nearly 60,000-strong forces with M-16s in the next few years.
RNA soldiers are currently armed with India-made
Self-Loading Rifle, Light Machine Gun, General Purpose Machine Guns and other arms.
However, the over 30 years old arms have
reportedly started to create such problems as "stoppage" and
"overheating" in the battlefield.
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