CAIRO: The US State Department signed a $40 billion agreement to sell military equipment to several Middle Eastern countries in 2009, the US State Department declared. In details, records report a $101 billion in total shipping worth of American defense weapons to Egypt. European Union exports of military equipment to Egypt also witnessed a sharp increase by 69 percent in 2008-2009. Britain sold $30 million worth of arms to Egypt in 2009, approving 81 export links for a wide range of military components. Arms deliveries to Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia almost doubled in value from $1.3 billion to $2.5 billion, reported Ekklesia. According to an annual report by the French Ministry of Defense, French companies shipped $322 million worth of arms to Egypt between 2005-2009, including bombs, rockets, and missiles as well as ground vehicles, aircraft and electronic equipment. But unlike the UK and the US State Department, France (and Germany) suspended arms sales to the Mubarak regime in February. Detailed figures show $458,000 of American export licenses of tear gas to Egypt, where the crowd of demonstrators were hit by US-produced live ammunitions and tear gas during the uprisings that led to former President Hosni Mubarak's ouster on February 11. “When you're selling something like tear gas, what's it going to be used for? Dissenters, most likely,” William D. Hartung of the New America Foundation declared to Forbes on Friday. Arms companies enjoy close relationships with governments, retaining immense influence over government decision-making. “This influence is a key reason why arms exporters have enjoyed disproportionate financial and political support from governments,” writes the London-based NGO Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). This sudden rise in arms sales is reportedly due to one main factor: arms purchasers would ‘go straight to U.S. competitors China or Russia', U.S. Department were not to keep up with the market's requests, said arms expert Matthew Schroeder to Forbes. News about the rising weapons trade come in a difficult moment for Egypt. Sources report that the forces clearing of Tahrir Square on Wednesday, where thousands of people had gathered to demonstrate, and had been motivated by the fear that weapons could be hidden by there by peaceful demonstrators. As a consequence, many police station and prisons being looted during the 18 days of revolutionary uprisings, circulation of weapons in Egypt has considerably increased. The clearing of Tahrir Square has been supported by many people wanting for the country to go back to normal, and security levels to increase. Police have been almost completely absent from Egyptian streets since January 28, but on Friday began to redeploy across the country. BM
