Belgian government divided on controversial sales contract of 5,500 machine guns to civil war suffering Nepal

Belgian cabinet minister Magda Aelvoet resigned on August 27 in protest against the government´s approval of the sale of 5,000 machine guns to Nepal. She took this decision after news about Germany earlier refusing the sale of 65,000 arms to Nepal.

International conventions require the prohibition of export of arms to countries that do not meet eight criteria. Thus it would be illegal by international standards to sell arms to a country that suffers a civil war.
The official Belgian government website corrected the term ´civil war´ from its texts about Nepal after the sale was voted. The parliament now speaks in terms of terrorism within and agains a democracy. From this point of view, the supply of weapons to the government army would be support in the war against terrorism.
However, according to a report published by the European Comission last year Nepal is in a beginning stage of civilian war. Moreover, there is little or no guarantee about the government being able to control the army sufficiently - according to the constitution (art. 118) the army is one of the kings´s responsabilities. This would be the present king Gyanendra, who allegedly is a supporter of strong military action. While Belgian PM discussed the human rights issue with his Nepales colleague Sher Bahadur Deuba, his power is limited. With no guarantees about the purpose for which the arms will be used, there is a very real risk for human rights to be violated.