GOVERNMENT has taken "strong exception" to a report by Human Rights Watch that says SA sells weapons to countries with human rights problems.

Fred Maree, an adviser to Kader Asmal, chairman of the national convention arms control committee, said yesterday the "tendentious" report, released in the US at the weekend, questioned government's commitment to implementing comprehensive arms control procedures.

The report A Question of Principle: Arms Trade and Human Rights says SA is selling weapons to countries with serious human rights problems, where an influx of weaponry could significantly worsen continuing abuses. It says purchasers of SA arms included Algeria, Angola, Colombia, Republic of Congo, India, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe. "These sales clearly violated SA's own stated policies," it says.

The executive director of Human Rights Watch's arms division, Joost Hiltermann, said SA had come a long way in overturning apartheid's legacy. "In the arms trade, the country has committed to some very good human rights principles. But these principles are not consistently applied and are now under real threat," he said. "SA should formalise in law the arms export policies the state has declared on paper, including a code of conduct on arms transfers," said Hiltermann.

But Maree said the report glibly prescribed an array of legislative and control measures that would ostensibly resolve tensions inherent in the regulation of arms transfers. "It relies blandly on inaccurate and specious reporting to infer government has compromised on basic principles in support of its own interests." There was also no mention of the role of the auditor-general to ensure compliance with approved procedures. Maree said it referred to named and unnamed sources, but not once did it refer to any of the parliamentary debates on arms transfers.

"Government is proud of the integrity of the arms control regulatory process. It does not need any back-handed compliments and rejects the slur Human Rights Watch has cast on the application of its principles," Maree said.

With acknowledgement to Xolani Xundu and Business Day