T HE German Ambassador to Cambodia told the Post that, despite reports to the
contrary, the German government is not supplying any lethal military aid to
Cambodia.
Dr Wiprecht von Treskow said: "There are reports in Jane's
Defense Weekly that German arms have been seen in Cambodia. I do not know how
they got here.
"But despite what journalists may say, the German
government has not sold any arms to Cambodia, and we do not intend to sell
any.
During the Untac period the German government established and manned
a military field hospital on the grounds of the Phnom Penh University in a
domestically controversial deployment of German military personnel overseas.
During the RCAF offensive against Anlong Veng German Armbrust
shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons were reportedly used by the Khmer Rouge. They
were said to have found their way into the guerrillas' hands after earlier being
supplied by Singapore to the non-communist factions fighting the SOC
regime.
Dr Treskow said: "There are few countries that we are officially
allowed to sell arms to. Since export licenses are required in all cases it is
impossible to sell arms secretly.
"With the unification of East and West
Germany, the German government inherited a large amount of Soviet-built weaponry
ammunition and spare parts.
"The German government was approached by many
nations, but we declined to sell any of the weapons or material to countries
where there were on-going difficulties.
"We normally don't sell any of
these kinds of material outside of the NATO region. But countries to which we
sold include Hungary and Finland."
