Romania Supplied 4 Helicopters To Côte D'Ivoire, Arms, Ammunition To Iraq - Foreign Ministry

Romania exported four non-military helicopters to Côte D'Ivoire in 2003 and after 2005, while observing the law, Romania exported arms and ammunition to Iraqi government authorities, the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday following an information request from MEDIAFAX.

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The ministry made these statements a few days after Amnesty International published a report stating Romania supplied military equipment to Côte d'Ivoire and Iraq over the past years.

The Amnesty International report, which calls for a global treaty regulating weapon trade, said Romania sold Côte d'Ivoire four Puma attack helicopters in 2003, when the country was dealing with a conflict between rebels and the government forces.

The foreign Ministry said Romania did export four non-military IAR 330 Puma helicopters, but with no military equipment on board.

"We emphasize that at that time there was no embargo for arms delivery to this country," the ministry said.

The Amnesty report mentioned Romania and Bulgaria as having supplied ammunition to Iraq within USA effort to supply the Bagdad Government with military equipment, but did not supply concrete data on the exported quantities and the value of contracts.

The Foreign Ministry said that after 2005, Romania did export arms and ammunition to the Iraqi government, while observing the UN Charter, the international weapon export control regime and the EU code on weapon exports.

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