Johannesburg - South Africa sold weapons to at least two parties in the Sudanese conflict this year.
The report of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to Parliament records that the committee approved sales of R25.5 million to the UN operation in Sudan, sales of R25.5m to Sudan and sales of R6.9m to South Sudan between January and March this year.
These sales were listed as separate entries, and clarity could not be obtained from the NCACC on Tuesday on whether there was duplication in these.
There were exports valued at R12.7m to the AU in Somalia, and R12.7m to Somalia, listed as separate entries.
DA spokesman on defence David Maynier said the sales needed some checking.
“We are going to have to take a very careful look at the conventional arms sales to Sudan. We are going to have to ensure there is no ‘double counting’ and that the R25m in conventional arms exports went to the UN mission in Sudan.
“The problem though is that the joint standing committee on defence is dysfunctional and is not properly scrutinising the reports being provided to Parliament,” said Maynier.
The report shows that the NCACC approved exports valued at R894m for the first three months of this year - 147 export permits to 34 countries.
It also approved contracts for imports totalling nearly R108m for the same period. These involved 162 import permits for 27 countries.
The NCACC’s quarterly report for 2013 lists the value of the imports and exports, not details of the armaments. It also lists the values of exports to each country.
The biggest export deals were to Sweden (R341m) and the US (R180.9m).
Other countries included Saudi Arabia (R42.8m), the United Arab Emirates (R37.2m), Benin (R30.5m), the UK (R30.4m), Malawi (R26.4m), Chad (R25.9m), Malaysia (R21.7m), India (R19.8m), Ghana (R17m), China (R10.5m), Republic of Congo (R17.7m) and Sierra Leone (R10.2m).
The NCACC also tabled its report for 2012 to the UN. This has different reporting criteria, and lists the actual items transferred but not the sales values.
The report lists three import deals: four Gripen JAS 39 fighter aircraft from Sweden for the air force, one Patria armoured personnel carrier (APC) from Finland, and 33 Starstreak HE K130 air defence missiles from the UK for the army.
The Gripens are believed to be part of the Strategic Defence Procurement Package purchases.
According to the report, only armoured combat vehicles were exported. It lists 177 APCs exported to 14 countries and the UN.
The only private buyer appeared to be Daimler AG in Germany, which bought a single APC. The rest were sales to defence and security forces.
Sales included 40 APCs to Sweden, 25 to the Republic of Congo, 20 to Spain, 16 to Thailand, 15 to Uganda, 14 to Zambia, 10 to Ghana, 10 to South Sudan and seven to the UN for Somalia, seven to Malawi, five to Nigeria and two to Kenya.
The Star