South Africa was directly involved in this process and did not use arms. The skill of negotiation is what we should be exporting. I have also taken note of the announcement of South Africa's new arms policy disclosure. A more open attitude is welcome. Assuming it is needed at all, the new policy is still not sufficiently transparent.
Arms are fatally dangerous.
Citizens of a country have a right to know when arms are being sold, to whom, and for what stated purposes. Africa is awash with arms. It doesn't need more munitions in societies that need food, job creation, capacity building and programmes to eradicate poverty. Far from instilling more confidence into the system, as Mnister Kader Asmal has said, people will increasingly doubt our commitment to programmes aimed at improving the quality of life in Africa. I therefore call for the decision to sell arms to Rwanda to be rescinded.