arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Brussels, 19 December 2002

Joint Statement of the Nepalese People's Progressive Forum, Belgium
and the Workers' Party of Belgium

Belgian arms delivery to Nepal: a crime against the Nepalese people

The first batch of the 5,500 high-powered Minimi machine guns have been delivered to Nepal. No serious observer can deny that an intense civil war is raging in Nepal, in which the government forces are blatantly and systematically violating human rights. The arms deal received an export licence from the Belgian government, without any democratic consultation or discussion whatsoever. Progressive and democratic political forces, human rights activists and even politicians of some traditional political parties were one in condemning the arms delivery as a clear violation of the Belgian law on weapons export. Several procedures to challenge the export licence were initiated before the State Council, the highest Belgian court. But the coalition in power - of Greens, Social Democrats and Liberals - decided to push aside the groundswell of protest. It also decided to rewrite the law to suit its own ends: from now on, also "nascent democracies facing armed rebellion" can receive Belgian weapons without further ado.

Can the Green, Social Democratic and Liberal politicians explain how democratic a regime is in which king Gyanendra is the only holder of political power, after having dismissed the elected parliament, dissolved the government and annulled the elections? All Nepalese political parties, intellectuals, prominent personalities and human rights organizations are opposing the despotic, feudal monarchy. Pointedly, it was Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) leader Prachanda who called for the respect of the Constitution when king Gyanendra staged his palace coup. Massive people's strikes and the increase in guerilla activity testify of the growing people's support for the Nepalese revolution. The CPN(Maoist), which leads the revolution, does not want to install a "communist state", as the media want us to believe. Against the feudal monarchy, it is fighting for a genuine people's democracy (for more information, see http://www.insof.org/050902_bb_arti.htm). It is open to the possibility of reaching this through negotiations with the current regime. It proposes the election of a Constituent Assembly and the formation of an interim government that expresses the democratic demands of the entire people. But the regime answers only with the most barbaric repression: since the armed revolution started in 1996, more than 7,200 people have been killed. The country counts more than 2,500 political prisoners and has the highest number in the world of journalists killed.

And yet, the Belgian government wants to maintain the cruel illusion that the millions of Nepalese people who are fighting for freedom and democracy are terrorists, and that the despotic and murderous feudal regime represents a "nascent democracy"! The Belgian government sent two fact-finding missions to Nepal. Their most important "finding": the Nepalese dictatorship has the right to defend itself from its own people! With the same reasoning, it would have been entirely correct to arm the Cuban dictator Batista against the people's guerilla of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara!

Belgium's arms delivery to Nepal cannot be seen out of the context of Bush's "global war on terrorism", in which US imperialism, followed by the European Union, is targeting all states and national liberation movements that dare to challenge their world order.

The Nepalese People's Progressive Forum - Belgium, an organization of Nepalese refugees, and the Workers' Party of Belgium condemn in the strongest terms the Belgian arms delivery to Nepal and call for its annulment. This arms delivery is no less than a crime against the Nepalese people. We call for the repeal of the new Belgian law on weapons export. We demand the strict implementation of the previous law on weapons export, provided that there is a strict, pro-active and democratic control by the people. We call on all peace-loving and democratic people to continue to protest the Belgian arms delivery to Nepal, as part of the growing people's movement against the global war that the US and the EU are unleashing against the peoples of the world.

Krishna Khatiwada
Chairman
Nepalese People's Progressive Forum, Belgium
nppfbe@hotmail.com - 0485/055.732

Baudouin Deckers
Political Bureau, Department of International Relations
Workers' Party of Belgium
bdeckers@brutele.be - 0475/941.118