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U.S. allowed Ethiopian arms deal with North Korea
By Michael R. Gordon and Mark Mazzetti
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Washington: Three months after the United States successfully pressed
the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea because
of the country's nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed
Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from the North, in what
appears to be a violation of the restrictions, according to senior
American officials.
The United States allowed the arms delivery to go through in January
in part because Ethiopia was in the midst of a military offensive
against Islamic militias inside Somalia, a campaign that aided the
American policy of combating religious extremists in the Horn of
Africa.
American officials said that they were still encouraging Ethiopia to
wean itself from its longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap
Soviet-era military equipment to supply its armed forces and that
Ethiopian officials appeared receptive. But the arms deal is an
example of the compromises that result from the clash of two foreign
policy absolutes: the Bush administration's commitment to fighting
Islamic radicalism and its effort to starve the North Korean
government of money it could use to build up its nuclear weapons
program.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, as the administration has made
counterterrorism its top foreign policy concern, the White House has
sometimes shown a willingness to tolerate misconduct by allies that it
might otherwise criticize, like human rights violations in Central
Asia and antidemocratic crackdowns in a number of Arab nations.
It is also not the first time that the Bush administration has made an
exception for allies in their dealings with North Korea. In 2002,
Spain intercepted a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to
Yemen. At the time, Yemen was working with the United States to hunt
members of Al Qaeda operating within its borders, and after its
government protested, the United States asked that the freighter be
released. Yemen said at the time that it was the last shipment from an
earlier missile purchase and would not be repeated.
American officials from a number of agencies described details of the
Ethiopian episode on the condition of anonymity because they were
discussing internal Bush administration deliberations.
Several officials said they first learned that Ethiopia planned to
receive a delivery of military cargo from North Korea when the
country's government alerted the American Embassy in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia's capital, after the adoption on Oct. 14 of the United
Nations Security Council measure imposing sanctions.
"The Ethiopians came back to us and said, 'Look, we know we need to
transition to different customers, but we just can't do that
overnight,' " said one American official, who added that the issue had
been handled properly. "They pledged to work with us at the most
senior levels."
American intelligence agencies in late January reported that an
Ethiopian cargo ship that was probably carrying tank parts and other
military equipment had left a North Korean port.
The value of the shipment is unclear, but Ethiopia purchased $20
million worth of arms from North Korea in 2001, according to American
estimates, a pattern that officials said had continued. The United
States gives Ethiopia millions of dollars of foreign aid and some
nonlethal military equipment.
After a brief debate in Washington, the decision was made not to block
the arms deal and to press Ethiopia not to make future purchases.
John Bolton, who helped to push the resolution imposing sanctions on
North Korea through the Security Council in October, before stepping
down as United Nations ambassador, said that the Ethiopians had long
known that Washington was concerned about their arms purchases from
North Korea and that the Bush administration should not have tolerated
the January shipment.
"To make it clear to everyone how strongly we feel on this issue we
should have gone to the Ethiopians and said they should send it back,"
said Bolton, who added that he had been unaware of the deal before
being contacted for this article. "I know they have been helpful in
Somalia, but there is a nuclear weapons program in North Korea that is
unhelpful for everybody worldwide.
"Never underestimate the strength of 'clientitis' at the State
Department," said Bolton, using Washington jargon for a situation in
which State Department officials are deemed to be overly sympathetic
to the countries they conduct diplomacy with.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, declined to comment on
the specifics of the arms shipment but said the United States was
"deeply committed to upholding and enforcing UN Security Council
resolutions." Repeated efforts to contact the Ethiopian Embassy were
unsuccessful.
In other cases, the United States has been strict in enforcing the
Security Council resolution. For instance, late last year, American
intelligence agencies tracked a North Korean freighter suspected of
carrying illicit weapons and pressed several nations to refuse to
allow the ship to dock. Myanmar, formerly Burma, allowed it to anchor
and insisted that there was no violation.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, and the
Security Council resolution, adopted less than a week later, was
hailed by President George W. Bush as "swift and tough," and a "clear
message to the leader of North Korea regarding his weapons programs."
Among the biggest sticking points during the negotiations over the
resolution were Chinese and Russian objections to language requiring
inspections of ships leaving North Korea. The United States repeatedly
pressed China and Russia to agree to the inspections, saying they were
essential to enforcing the resolution's embargo on North Korea's sale
of dangerous weapons, like ballistic missiles. In addition to the ban
on the purchase of weapons from North Korea, the resolution also
called for a ban on the sale of luxury goods to it and the freezing of
its financial assets in banks worldwide.
The measure had special relevance for several African states that have
long purchased low-cost military equipment from North Korea. Ethiopia
has an arsenal of T-55 tanks that it acquired years ago from the
Soviet Union and Eastern European nations. For years, it has turned to
North Korea for tank parts and other equipment to keep its military
running.
The Ethiopians bought the equipment at a bargain price; the North
Koreans received some badly needed cash. In 2005, the Bush
administration told Ethiopia and other African nations that it wanted
them to phase out their purchases from North Korea. But the Security
Council resolution put an international imprimatur on the earlier
American request, and the administration sought to reinforce the
message.
"They really are one of the larger conventional arms purchasers from
North Korea, and we're pressing them hard and saying, 'Let's get you
out of that business,' " said the American official.
Another American official, who is involved in Africa policy, said:
"These are cash on the barrel transactions. The Ethiopians know that
they can get the best deal in Pyongyang," a reference to North Korea's
capital.
In late January, the Central Intelligence Agency reported that an
Ethiopian-flagged vessel had left a North Korean port and that its
cargo probably included "tank parts," among other military equipment.
American officials said that the ship, the Tekeze, a modern vessel
bought from a company in Montenegro and named after an Ethiopian
river, unloaded its cargo in Djibouti, a former French colony where
the United States has based Special Operations troops and other
military forces. From there, the cargo was transported overland to
Ethiopia.
The Security Council resolution's list of prohibited items included
spare parts. Because the cargo was never inspected, some
administration officials say the United States cannot say for certain
that the shipment violated the resolution.
It is not clear if the United States ever reported the arms shipment
to the Security Council. But because the intelligence reports
indicated that the cargo was likely to have included tank parts, some
Pentagon officials described the shipment as an unambiguous Security
Council violation.
American officials said that the Ethiopians acknowledged that the ship
was en route and said they needed the military equipment to sustain
their Soviet-era military. Ethiopia has a longstanding border dispute
with Eritrea, but of more concern to Washington, Ethiopia was also
focused on neighboring Somalia, where Islamic forces that had taken
over Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, six months earlier were attacking
Baidoa, the seat of a relatively powerless transitional government
that was formed with the support of the United Nations.
The timing of the shipment was extremely awkward, as the Ethiopian
military was preoccupied with Somalia and also quietly cooperating
with the United States. Ethiopia began an offensive in Somalia to
drive back the Islamic forces and install the transitional government
in Mogadishu late last year. The United States was providing it with
detailed intelligence about the positions of the Islamic forces and
positioned navy ships off Somalia's coast to capture fighters trying
to escape the battlefield by sea.
On Jan. 7, American AC-130 gunships launched two strikes on terrorist
targets from an airstrip inside Ethiopia, though it did not appear
that the casualties included any of the few top Qaeda operatives
American officials suspected were hiding in Somalia.
After some internal debate, the Bush administration decided not to
make an issue of the cargo ship.
American officials insist that they are keeping up the pressure on
Ethiopia. While Ethiopia has not provided an ironclad assurance that
it will accept no more arms shipments from North Korea, it has told
the United States that it will look for other weapons suppliers.
"There was a lot going on at that particular moment in time," said the
senior American official. "They seem to have the readiness to do the
right thing."
---------------------------------------------------------------
2007 The International Herald Tribune
U.S. allowed Ethiopian arms deal with North Korea
By Michael R. Gordon and Mark Mazzetti
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Washington: Three months after the United States successfully pressed
the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea because
of the country's nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed
Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from the North, in what
appears to be a violation of the restrictions, according to senior
American officials.
The United States allowed the arms delivery to go through in January
in part because Ethiopia was in the midst of a military offensive
against Islamic militias inside Somalia, a campaign that aided the
American policy of combating religious extremists in the Horn of
Africa.
American officials said that they were still encouraging Ethiopia to
wean itself from its longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap
Soviet-era military equipment to supply its armed forces and that
Ethiopian officials appeared receptive. But the arms deal is an
example of the compromises that result from the clash of two foreign
policy absolutes: the Bush administration's commitment to fighting
Islamic radicalism and its effort to starve the North Korean
government of money it could use to build up its nuclear weapons
program.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, as the administration has made
counterterrorism its top foreign policy concern, the White House has
sometimes shown a willingness to tolerate misconduct by allies that it
might otherwise criticize, like human rights violations in Central
Asia and antidemocratic crackdowns in a number of Arab nations.
It is also not the first time that the Bush administration has made an
exception for allies in their dealings with North Korea. In 2002,
Spain intercepted a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to
Yemen. At the time, Yemen was working with the United States to hunt
members of Al Qaeda operating within its borders, and after its
government protested, the United States asked that the freighter be
released. Yemen said at the time that it was the last shipment from an
earlier missile purchase and would not be repeated.
American officials from a number of agencies described details of the
Ethiopian episode on the condition of anonymity because they were
discussing internal Bush administration deliberations.
Several officials said they first learned that Ethiopia planned to
receive a delivery of military cargo from North Korea when the
country's government alerted the American Embassy in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia's capital, after the adoption on Oct. 14 of the United
Nations Security Council measure imposing sanctions.
"The Ethiopians came back to us and said, 'Look, we know we need to
transition to different customers, but we just can't do that
overnight,' " said one American official, who added that the issue had
been handled properly. "They pledged to work with us at the most
senior levels."
American intelligence agencies in late January reported that an
Ethiopian cargo ship that was probably carrying tank parts and other
military equipment had left a North Korean port.
The value of the shipment is unclear, but Ethiopia purchased $20
million worth of arms from North Korea in 2001, according to American
estimates, a pattern that officials said had continued. The United
States gives Ethiopia millions of dollars of foreign aid and some
nonlethal military equipment.
After a brief debate in Washington, the decision was made not to block
the arms deal and to press Ethiopia not to make future purchases.
John Bolton, who helped to push the resolution imposing sanctions on
North Korea through the Security Council in October, before stepping
down as United Nations ambassador, said that the Ethiopians had long
known that Washington was concerned about their arms purchases from
North Korea and that the Bush administration should not have tolerated
the January shipment.
"To make it clear to everyone how strongly we feel on this issue we
should have gone to the Ethiopians and said they should send it back,"
said Bolton, who added that he had been unaware of the deal before
being contacted for this article. "I know they have been helpful in
Somalia, but there is a nuclear weapons program in North Korea that is
unhelpful for everybody worldwide.
"Never underestimate the strength of 'clientitis' at the State
Department," said Bolton, using Washington jargon for a situation in
which State Department officials are deemed to be overly sympathetic
to the countries they conduct diplomacy with.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, declined to comment on
the specifics of the arms shipment but said the United States was
"deeply committed to upholding and enforcing UN Security Council
resolutions." Repeated efforts to contact the Ethiopian Embassy were
unsuccessful.
In other cases, the United States has been strict in enforcing the
Security Council resolution. For instance, late last year, American
intelligence agencies tracked a North Korean freighter suspected of
carrying illicit weapons and pressed several nations to refuse to
allow the ship to dock. Myanmar, formerly Burma, allowed it to anchor
and insisted that there was no violation.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, and the
Security Council resolution, adopted less than a week later, was
hailed by President George W. Bush as "swift and tough," and a "clear
message to the leader of North Korea regarding his weapons programs."
Among the biggest sticking points during the negotiations over the
resolution were Chinese and Russian objections to language requiring
inspections of ships leaving North Korea. The United States repeatedly
pressed China and Russia to agree to the inspections, saying they were
essential to enforcing the resolution's embargo on North Korea's sale
of dangerous weapons, like ballistic missiles. In addition to the ban
on the purchase of weapons from North Korea, the resolution also
called for a ban on the sale of luxury goods to it and the freezing of
its financial assets in banks worldwide.
The measure had special relevance for several African states that have
long purchased low-cost military equipment from North Korea. Ethiopia
has an arsenal of T-55 tanks that it acquired years ago from the
Soviet Union and Eastern European nations. For years, it has turned to
North Korea for tank parts and other equipment to keep its military
running.
The Ethiopians bought the equipment at a bargain price; the North
Koreans received some badly needed cash. In 2005, the Bush
administration told Ethiopia and other African nations that it wanted
them to phase out their purchases from North Korea. But the Security
Council resolution put an international imprimatur on the earlier
American request, and the administration sought to reinforce the
message.
"They really are one of the larger conventional arms purchasers from
North Korea, and we're pressing them hard and saying, 'Let's get you
out of that business,' " said the American official.
Another American official, who is involved in Africa policy, said:
"These are cash on the barrel transactions. The Ethiopians know that
they can get the best deal in Pyongyang," a reference to North Korea's
capital.
In late January, the Central Intelligence Agency reported that an
Ethiopian-flagged vessel had left a North Korean port and that its
cargo probably included "tank parts," among other military equipment.
American officials said that the ship, the Tekeze, a modern vessel
bought from a company in Montenegro and named after an Ethiopian
river, unloaded its cargo in Djibouti, a former French colony where
the United States has based Special Operations troops and other
military forces. From there, the cargo was transported overland to
Ethiopia.
The Security Council resolution's list of prohibited items included
spare parts. Because the cargo was never inspected, some
administration officials say the United States cannot say for certain
that the shipment violated the resolution.
It is not clear if the United States ever reported the arms shipment
to the Security Council. But because the intelligence reports
indicated that the cargo was likely to have included tank parts, some
Pentagon officials described the shipment as an unambiguous Security
Council violation.
American officials said that the Ethiopians acknowledged that the ship
was en route and said they needed the military equipment to sustain
their Soviet-era military. Ethiopia has a longstanding border dispute
with Eritrea, but of more concern to Washington, Ethiopia was also
focused on neighboring Somalia, where Islamic forces that had taken
over Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, six months earlier were attacking
Baidoa, the seat of a relatively powerless transitional government
that was formed with the support of the United Nations.
The timing of the shipment was extremely awkward, as the Ethiopian
military was preoccupied with Somalia and also quietly cooperating
with the United States. Ethiopia began an offensive in Somalia to
drive back the Islamic forces and install the transitional government
in Mogadishu late last year. The United States was providing it with
detailed intelligence about the positions of the Islamic forces and
positioned navy ships off Somalia's coast to capture fighters trying
to escape the battlefield by sea.
On Jan. 7, American AC-130 gunships launched two strikes on terrorist
targets from an airstrip inside Ethiopia, though it did not appear
that the casualties included any of the few top Qaeda operatives
American officials suspected were hiding in Somalia.
After some internal debate, the Bush administration decided not to
make an issue of the cargo ship.
American officials insist that they are keeping up the pressure on
Ethiopia. While Ethiopia has not provided an ironclad assurance that
it will accept no more arms shipments from North Korea, it has told
the United States that it will look for other weapons suppliers.
"There was a lot going on at that particular moment in time," said the
senior American official. "They seem to have the readiness to do the
right thing."
---------------------------------------------------------------
2007 The International Herald Tribune
