U.S. Has No Evidence That Israel Sold Cluster Bombs to Ethiopia

The State Department said Monday that it has “no clear physical evidence” that Israel has sent cluster bombs to Ethiopia.

The New York Times reported Sunday that U.S. officials “strongly suspect” such sales. In December, former President Jimmy Carter said Ethiopia had received cluster bombs “from one of our Middle East allies,” but did not say which.

“The truth is that we have no clear physical evidence that Israel has provided such weapons to the government of Ethiopia,” department spokes woman Margaret Tutwiler said at her briefing.

An Ethiopian Embassy official here said Monday, “It’s news to us. We don’t know anything about this.”

The Ethiopian official complained about negative stories coming just a few months after the restoration of ties with Israel in October.

“We would like to develop (relations with Israel) in an all-around manner, like any sovereign country,” the official said.

Israel currently supplies small arms to Ethiopia, said a State Department official, who requested anonymity. Middle East experts have speculated that in exchange, Israel has received promises that 10,000 to 15,000 Ethiopian Jews seeking to make aliyah will receive favorable consideration from the Marxist government.

‘WIGGLE ROOM’ IN RABIN DENIAL

The department official said that the United States has not received any complaints from rebel forces in Ethiopia that cluster bombs are being deployed against them. “They would have made a big stink about it if they have been used,” the official said.

During his visit here last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin told U.S. officials that “Israel was not providing cluster bombs to Ethiopia and would not do so,” said Tutwiler.

But the source at State said there was “wiggle room” in that denial, because it did not mention any past Israeli bomb sales to Ethiopia.

Israeli Embassy spokeswoman Ruth Yaron was quoted Monday in the Los Angeles Times as saying she could not comment about past sales.

The United States banned U.S. sales of cluster bombs to Israel in 1982, after Israel used them against civilians during its invasion of Lebanon. The ban was lifted in 1988, although no U.S. cluster bombs have been delivered to Israel since then, Tutwiler said.

The United States requires Israel to seek U.S. approval before selling any weaponry based on U.S. technology or design, including cluster bombs. But The New York Times said Israel claims its cluster bomb is based on Israeli technology.