An arms trade campaigning group has criticised the sale of 10,000
military missiles by Slovakia to Sri Lanka.
The three-metre missiles are designed to be dispatched from multiple
rocket launchers.
Symon Hill, from the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), said the sale
was "exactly what Sri Lanka doesn't need at the moment".
Sri Lanka has been engaged in civil war for 25 years, and the CAAT
fears the weapons may be used against civilians.
Mr Hill says "there are many examples of the Sri Lankan army being
accused of the killing of civilians, as often happens in civil wars".
Code of conduct
Analysts say that because the Sri Lankan government bans most
independent observers from travelling to the war affected areas, it is
impossible to know the full truth.
The European Union, of which Slovakia is a member, has a Code of
Conduct on Arms Ex****ts, designed "to prevent the ex****t of equipment
which might be used for internal repression or international
aggression, or contribute to regional instability".
But Symon Hill of the CAAT says that the Code is "so weak, so vague,
with so many loopholes".
He adds that "the EU needs to be realistic about enforcing a code of
conduct. Slovakia isn't the only country that appears to have broken
the code."
The European Union would not comment on this specific case, but
Christiana Hohmann, spokeswoman for Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the
European commissioner for external relations, said that "how the code
is implemented is up to each member country".
The Slovakian Economy Ministry denies that the sale is in violation of
the code.
Ministry spokesman Branislav Zvara said that "the UN Security
Council's evaluation of the situation in Sri Lanka has not led it to
declare an embargo on arms ****pments to the country".
The Sri Lankan government ended a formal ceasefire with Tamil Tiger
rebels in January.
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