Embarrassed by new disclosures that German companies illegally supplied Iraq with arms and technology for the manufacture of nuclear weapons, the German parliament finally declared all-out war on the illicit trade last week.
The Bundestag adopted a bill severely tightening export controls with a penalty of up to five years in prison for violators.
One of its measures empowers customs officials to open mail and tap telephones. Another established a new government office to improve the coordination and control of state efforts to prevent illegal arms shipments.
The legislation has taken long to materialize. It was first presented to parliament nearly a year ago, after disclosure that some German firms helped Iraq and Libya build plants to manufacture chemical weapons.
But the draft bill became bogged down by the government’s reluctance to admit to German complicity in arming Iraq and by wrangling between government and opposition forces over who was to blame.
Supporters of the bill were strengthened when the Iraqi government admitted to U.N. inspectors last week that it had bought specialized nuclear equipment from German companies.
The equipment included fortified magnets and housings to build 10,000 centrifuges that would produce enough enriched uranium to manufacture four or five nuclear bombs a year.
The Bundestag’s enactment of the law may have gotten further impetus from an incident last month, which the German authorities disclosed only last week.
BACKLASH FROM GERMAN FIRMS
A suspicious air cargo en route to Libya was halted on the verge of takeoff from Frankfurt airport on Dec. 10, after a foreign intelligence agency alerted the German authorities.
Government spokesman Dieter Vogel said the shipment was halted by a Cabinet directive, which was necessary because parliament was still sitting on a law restricting sensitive exports to Libya.
The mystery cargo, originating from the United States, had been purchased by a Dutch firm for shipment via Frankfurt to a Libyan agency known to be in the business of procuring materiel for Libya’s missile program.
Vogel did not specify the nature of the cargo but said it could have been used for civilian purposes or to manufacture nuclear weapons.
The cargo was confiscated after the plane carrying it was halted on the runway.
The government, meanwhile, has gotten a backlash from several firms that accuse it of depriving them of lucrative income because of the boycott imposed on Iraq in August 1991.
Several are suing the government for loss of business due to the embargo. One company has asked a Bonn court to order the government to reimburse it in the amount of $1.7 million for loss of an Iraqi order for heavy truck equipment.
The Wuppertal-based company said the boycott forced it to shut down an assembly line, causing permanent damage and loss of revenue.
The government argued that the embargo against Iraq was imposed by the United Nations and the European Community, not by Bonn.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
