|
From ACIG.org Reserve Files
Late in the year 2001, the US AWACs aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, started to track an increasing number of training flights by the jet fighters of the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF). This caused a considerable surprise: the number of IrAF’s training flights was declining for years, as the Iraqi technicians found it increasingly difficult to keep their aircraft flyable for the lack of spares and proper maintenance. But now, the IrAF became more active within few months than for years before (with exception of a short period in January 1999): in the summer of 2001, Iraqi MiG-25s flew missions even inside the Jordanian air space, and have repeatedly flown inside the UN-imposed no-fly zones, provoking the US and British aircraft into interception attempts. Then, in the time between February and May this year, the US intelligence noticed that the Iraq was reinforcing its air defenses with new equipment and technical assistance from an unknown source. All of a sudden, within only few months, the IrAF and the ADC were up and vividly operational to extensions unknown ever since the summer of 1990. The activity of the IrAF became such, that certain sources already came to the absurd idea of Iran returning the Iraqi aircraft flown there in 1991 back to Iraq, while many observers simply couldn’t believe the number of training sorties (quite a few of which ended over the no-fly zones) flown by the IrAF. How was this possible? Intensive surveillance with the help of reconnaissance satellites and aircraft showed, that a large number of previously grounded Iraqi interceptors and fighter-bombers were operational again – despite the ten years long embargo on arms exports into Iraq. It became obvious, that the IrAF and the ADC were going through a series of extensive repair on a large number of aircraft – and that the same was happening also with the armour of the Iraqi Republican Guards and the Army. Although these would have a minimal impact on the Iraqi capability to defend against a possible US attack – as most of the Iraqi aircraft and tanks are meanwhile obsolete models, built at least 12 years ago – they definitely considerably increased the capability of the Iraqi regime to surpress internal challenges to its authority. One of the specific systems soon to be even photographed (by British Tornado GR.Mk.4s equipped with recce containers, and so-called UAVs), which appeared in this period of time were several flat-bed trucks equipped with rotating launchers for SA-3 missiles, and corresponding radars. So far, the S-125 Neva/SA-3 system was not mobile: its quarduple launchers lacked either a wheeled or tracked chassis, and were complex to move. All of a sudden, however, flat-bed trucks appeared in Iraq, capable of taking a newly-constructed launchers for two SA-3s. This alone would not be a problem as such, as the original SA-3 was also not built to be mobile, and needs a considerable amount of work and calibration once brought into a firing position and before it can effectively operate. This, however, was not the case with new Iraqi SA-3s: they could move swiftly without any problems, and were obviously modified so not to suffer from the movement and for being brought swiftly into the firing position. The new SA-3s were initially noticed around the Imam Ali AB, near Nasseriyah, in southern Iraq, where they were obviously responsible for one of the control centers of the Southern Air Defense Command IrAF. Simultaneously with the appearance of the “new SA-3s”, the Iraqi air defenses continued to be more active and aggressive in challenging the US and British aircraft which control the “no-fly” zones. The first Iraqi success came on 26 May, when they apparently shot down one of the US reconnaissance UAVs over the southern Iraq. Therefore, a logical question arose: who was supporting and supplying Iraq? Rumors and more Rumors During the last two years, there were many rumors about the supplies of advanced anti-aircraft systems to Iraq. Last year, a Belarus newspaper claimed that Belarus had been supplying Iraq with radar stations, air defense systems, and communications equipment - a charge denied by Belarus. The US Department of State has threatened sanctions against Belarus for alleged illicit arms transfers to rogue states, and has claimed that Washington has credible evidence that a group of Iraqi officers visited Belarus to be trained on the sophisticated SA-10 anti-aircraft system. Clearly, if Iraq were to acquire the SA-10, the threat to Coalition aircraft would be greatly increased. It would no longer be simply a question of confronting Coalition aircraft with outmoded Soviet-era SAMs. Dissident Iraqi sources have claimed to JIR that Saddam is in the market for the best equipment available, and with a covert arms pipeline in operation, there is a danger that he could secure equipment far in advance of what his forces now possess. Meanwhile, indications have emerged that the Iraqi Air Defense Command (which was meanwhile completely separated from the IrAF), may also be receiving equipment from elsewhere abroad. In May 2002 the Associated Press quoted a Pentagon source as saying that there had been a surge in flights by Iraqi fighters in recent weeks, and that this indicated that unknown suppliers were providing spare parts to Iraq. Apart from Belarus, speculation has also centered on other former Soviet states as possible sources of air defense equipment. Radio Free Europe recently reported claims that the Ukraine was selling anti-aircraft systems to Iraq. A senior Iraqi defector has claimed in an interview with JIR that SAMs have been imported covertly from North Korea. It has been reported that under the Milosevic regime, Yugoslav technicians traveled to Iraq to improve the air defense system. An Iraqi opposition source recently claimed to JIR that Serb technicians were still in Iraq, working to extend the range of certain air defense missiles by 20 to 30kms. It is, perhaps, noteworthy that Iraqi SAMs have come close to hitting a high-flying U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over Iraq and an E-2C Hawkeye aircraft operating in Kuwaiti airspace. The theory was that Iraq had managed to extend the range of some of its SAMs. It has emerged in recent years that Iraq was also in the market for early-warning equipment - in 1997 the CIA helped to disrupt an attempt by Baghdad to acquire the Czech-made TAMARA reconnaissance and early-warning system. Gotcha! The long search of the US intelligence agencies was finally successful. In early September 2002, the US embassy in Sarajevo was authorized to call for action to be taken by the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) against the Bosnian Serb Company Orao. On 6 September, this action was explained with the following statement from the BiH government (by Amer Kapetanovic, the spokesman of the foreign ministry BiH): - "We have been warned by the US embassy that a company from Republika Srpska (Serb Republic – RS: the Serb-run part of Bosnia) is supplying Iraq with spare parts and technical assistance." Kapetanovic added, that the Bosnian ministry would investigate and take any appropriate steps, but he refused to reveal the name of the company. To those with the knowledge of the local circumstances, it was immediately clear that the company in question was the “Orao Aviation Bureau” (means “Eagle”; this company is not to be mixed with the Yugoslav-Romanian fighter jet, the YUROM J-22 Orao), stationed in Bijeljina. The Orao was known to have maintained and refurbished MiG-engines for the IrAF already during the I Persian Gulf War (1980-1988), and before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, n 1990, which started the II Persian Gulf War. It is known to us, for example – and some Serbs tried to argument against the US alegations by this fact – that one of the last shipments which arrived from Iraq to Orao before the war in Yugoslavia, in 1991, consisted of 30 engines for MiG-21s and MiG-23s. Reportedly, some of these were delivered back to Iraq before the IIPGW, in 1990, and the rest in 1992, when they were brought to Batajnica, and from there loaded - together with some radars refurbished at Kosmos (a refurbishing works stationed in Banja Luka, the second-largest Bosnian-Serb city) - on a Russian An-124 transport, which flew them to Iraq. Now, it became pretty soon clear, that the cooperation between "Orao" and the Iraqis have been continued afterwards too. Orao, the Short Story The Orao enterprise has been in existence in one form or another since 1944, when it was known as the Aviation Workshop No 169 of the Yugoslav Air Force. In 1957, it became the Aviation Technical Maintenance Institute, taking on the task of maintaining jet engines, and later moving on to turbo-jet engines. Apart from maintaining engines for domestic jets, it also serviced Tumanski jet engines for the Soviet supersonic MiG-21, which was the main fighter interceptor of the Yugoslav Air Force and the air defense wing of the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army). In 1988, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) procured from the Soviet Union a squadron of modern MiG-29 Fulcrums, and the institute embarked on a program to maintain the aircrafts' engines. Given that background, the Orao institute could be of great use to Iraq. Yet, it should be remembered that even if the charges were true, Iraq would not have gained a lot from getting spare parts or machinery for producing these from the company. Even if Iraq's fighter aircraft were in the best possible state (which they are not), the Iraqis would stand no chance against American air forces who are much better equipped and trained. No, it had to be something else – and in fact much more. Besides, the Orao Aviation Institute is not any ordinary private sector firm. Organizationally, it comes under the Ministry of Defense of the Serb Republic, and it is headed by an officer in the Serb Republic Army, Colonel Milan Prica. If assistance has indeed been given to Iraq, it is highly improbable that the relevant officials in the Serb Republic Government did not know about it. And it is at least questionable that the UN Stabilization Force (SFOR) did not know about it. Anyway, on 14 September 2002, the BiH government mentioned the Orao company for the first time in related press-releases. But, on the same day, the speaker for the company and the presidency of the RS denied any such alegations. Instead, they explained that, "motors that we produce and assemble in accordance with the world standards are not weapons and the campaign against us probably has pre-election purposes". In fact, a commision set up by the presidency of the RS even brought an official conclusion of an investigation, explaining without any problems that the result of their findings was that the Orao Aviation Bureau was “that Orao Aviation Bureau has not been exporting weapons, military equipment and spare parts or offering services to Iraq.” The Documents Which Said too Much Between 11 and 13 October, however, the SFOR conducted an unannounced inspection of the Orao factory in Bijeljina, and there documents were secured confirming that the company was involved – via the main Yugoslav arms exporter, the Yugoimport (the full name of this state-owned enterprise is actually: Jugoimport SDPR Federal Directorate for Trade in Special Purpose Products) – in illegar export of weapons components to Iraq since at least 2000. The secured documents revealed multiple shipments of tools and materials for the maintenance and repair of Tumansky R-13-200 and R-25 engines, as used on MiG-21 fighters (also in the IrAF), as well as the complete RD-33 engines, as well as that e number of technicians from Orao were sent to Iraq help maintenance on Iraqi aircraft. As a matter of fact, the latest of these documents – revealing the tasking of five Serbian technicians to remain in Iraq in order to remove all the traces (like Serbian manuals, tools and equipment, factory plates and construction numbers) of Orao’s work and involvement there – was dated with 25 September 2002, meaning, that even after the US warning on the BiH authorities, and in advance of the renewal of UN inspections in Iraq, the Serbs did their best in order to conceal their involvement. Precisely, one of the documents revealed, that in February 2000 the Yugoslav and Iraqi governments (the last represented by the company al-Fatah) signed a contract with the Iraqis ordering the Yugoslavs to develop a medium- to long-range cruise missile, called CM.1500. The Yugoslavs were to work in five small companies, called Infinity, Brunner, GVS, Temex and Interdeal, associated with or controled by active or retired Yugoslav Army officers. Brunner (a company known to have built a rocket propellant plant in Libya, and helped the Libyans to obtain US software needed for missile guidance), for example, was assigend to develop the turbojet engine – called MM.400 – for the missile. Furthermore, the documents explained that the Yugoslav scientists have made repeated visits to Iraq since early 2001 to complete work on the project, as well as that the directors of all the mentioned companies, as well as the representants of the Yugoslav government met with representatives of an Iraqi trading company, called al-Rawa. Another memorandum, found in the suitcase of Goran Santrac, Lt.Col. in the Bosnian Serb Army and marketing director of Orao, signed by Colonel Krsto Grujovic, the director of Jugoimport's office in Baghdad, and adressed to the Iraqi Defence Ministry, explained: - that the Yugoimport was unable to make the full delivery with the last shipment, on 30 June 2002, because of the danger that the deal would become known outside. It said, “Jugoimport proposes, therefore, to reduce its technical support in Iraqi plants, until the deliveries start again”. - the document explained, that the rest of the shipment would now be in the port of Bar, waiting for permission from Syria to be shipped to Tartus. - The Yugoslavs would dismantle the equipment within 10 days, after which the Iraqis would be responsible for hiding the materials. Once the inspection was over, the Jugoimport personnel would see to it that the weaponry - Soviet-built, Yugoslav-serviced MIG fighter aircraft - was reassembled, ready for use within 10 days. - precisely, it was said that Yugoimport would pull back its technical experts from Baghdad when the deal is completed, and that Iraqis must remove all designations "Orao" from all equipment maintenance documents. The Iraqis were asked to remove all instructions in Serbo-Croat from the plants and return them to Jugoimport's experts. They were also asked to remove all Jugoimport work orders, and eliminate the designation "Orao" from all documents, catalogues, and lab equipment. - In case of a UN inspection, Jugoimport advises that its employees will dismantle the equipment within 10 days, and instructs the Iraqis to hide it. Jugoimport will set up the equipment again within 10 days. - Iraqis are told to prevent the inspectors from discovering that the reserve parts were procured from Orao, by designing a new seal similar to the Orao seal, and impress it over the original. They also suggest moving Jugoimport's experts from the military complex to other locations. - The copies of this memorandum were supplied to Kostunjica, Djindjic, the foreign minister Goran Svilanovic, and Yugoslav PM Dragisa Pesic. Other documents revealed, that the contract between Orao and the al-Bashair Trade Co (based in Baghdad), was worth $8.5 million. It included provisions for the care and housing of Yugoslav specialists, payment schedules and mutual pledges of "business secrecy." The Washington Post obtained copies of the letter and contract. With this, it became clear that even the top Yugoslav and Serb leadership was – if not involved – at least in knowledge of the whole affair. Not only that: the money from the deals was probably used to finance the Seselj’s presidential campaign! And still, the Yugoslav and RS authorities played dumb. After the SFOR inspection in Bijeljina, the Yugoslav Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had not approved the export of arms to Iraq and that it would investigate the alleged breach of the U.N. arms embargo and "undertake measures against possible culprits." The Yugoslav Interior Minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, explained that, “We must get to the bottom of this affair, hoping it will not have a negative impact on our relations with the international community and the United States in particular". Yugoslav president Kostunjica, just for example, ignored the statement from one of the speakers of the Yugoslav military, which explained that in addition to the already mentioned equipment, also, “a number of machines and calibration instruments suitable for use in the aviation industry were delivered to Iraq". Kostunjica only would not rule out the possibility that, “individual citizens might have private deals with Baghdad”, adding that, "Anything to do with weapons is a lucrative challenge for some people, even the Americans uncovered some of their own citizens (fighting for the Taliban) in Afghanistan". As late as on 22 October, the Serbian deputy PM, Nebojsa Covic, explained in the Serb TV that the Serbian authorities were warned about the Yugoimport’s deals with Iraq only a week before! Only on 23 October did the Yugoslav authorities finally open an investigation into US allegations and against the Yugoimport, Orao, and the Yugoslav military. This happened only after the ornered government of the RS started their own investigations. One of the first names mentioned in the context of these investigations – at least as “witness” – was General Branko Krga. Nevertheless, in the days after, both the Yugoslav deputy defence minister, Ivan Djokic (which was in charge of military exports), and the chairman of Yugoimport, Jovan Cekovic, were removed from their positions. The Blic & B-92 Reports From that moment on, the situation developed very fast. On the evening of 23 October, the RTS (Serbian TV) brought the following report: “As early as in the 1970s, the SDPR began cooperation with Iraq, when our construction companies were contracted to build a major arms factory near Baghdad. This cooperation, the SDPR insists, continued until 1990s, when the United Nations passed a resolution banning arms exports to Iraq. A meeting between Maj-Gen Jovan Cekovic, director of Jugoimport, with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Taha Yassin Ramadan is known to have taken place at that time. According to some unofficial sources, at that meeting a deal was struck on the export of weapons manufactured by the aviation institute in Bijeljina. According to what Blic daily of Belgrade has claimed, the person who approves business deals with Iraq today is Borisa Vukovic, former high-ranking JUL Yugoslav United Left official and currently an adviser in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia embassy in Baghdad. The Sfor Stabilization Force has confirmed that computer discs confiscated at the Orao institute contain data proving that trade with Iraq did occur, and that it went through Belgrade-based Jugoimport. Lt.Col Branko Trkulja, spokesman for the (Bosnian) Serb Republic Defence Ministry, said: “We do not intend to comment on such statements, because we adhere to facts and base our work on documents. The Federal Yugoslav Defence Ministry, however, denied that any such cooperation with Iraq ever occurred. Nevertheless, on the same evening also the Radio B-92 brought the following exhaustive report: Announcer: The federal government has dismissed the director general of the Jugoimport company, Jovan Cekovic, and Yugoslav Deputy Defence Minister Gen Ivan Djokic. - In a statement from its session held to discuss the information about illegal arms sales to Iraq through the Jugoimport company, the government says that Djokic has been dismissed as the person responsible for trading in military equipment and arms in the Yugoslav Defence Ministry. The government asked authorized state bodies to investigate the business dealings of Jugoimport and other companies which deal in arms and to establish the potential responsibility of the persons thought to be involved in illegal arms trade. The Jugoimport has been asked to close its branch office in Baghdad. The federal government also announced it would set up a commission to investigate whether there have been irregularities in the Yugoslav Defence Ministry in the process of issuing licences for exporting military equipment and arms and, if so to propose adequate measures. All the members of Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic's cabinet attended the session, as did the head of the Jugoimport managing board, Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic. - Earlier today, Mihajlovic told B92 that the managing board had not been informed about the activities concerning the export of arms to Iraq or that the police had already been working on this case. - Mihajlovic: The Jugoimport managing board, in its current makeup, has never discussed any information concerning the export of military equipment to Iraq. We will check all these allegations, and a very thorough investigation has been opened. Since I occupy the post of interior minister, I immediately ordered measures to fight organized crime and to investigate the dealings of all companies which trade in arms to check whether there have been violations of international sanctions and regulations. Charges will be pressed against anyone found responsible. - Announcer: The information which the Blic daily published today about the export of arms to Iraq is actually the content of a letter which Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic sent to the highest Yugoslav and Serbian officials. In a statement to B92, Covic said that he had received information about this affair from the highest international circles last week, adding that some other state officials also had these findings at their disposal. - Covic: It is actually not true that no-one knew anything about this. Many have received this document. When I received the information about this document, I thought I had the responsibility to our state to write a letter to the most responsible people in this country, because we have to take care of each other, regardless of whether we agree on certain issues or not. As in the cases of others who had received this information even before I did, the information came from various international circles. The source is not important, but I have to say that this source is very well-meaning. I learnt about this on Friday 18 October , which is when I wrote the letter. - Announcer: B92 has learnt that a delegation of US State Department inspectors was in our country two weeks ago. They investigated the dealings of the Jugoimport company. Besides having talked with this company's representatives, they also talked to government members and announced a new visit by the end of this year. - It was confirmed to our radio by the State Department this evening that the US authorities had information about the Jugoimport affair, and we were told that there would soon be an official comment on the whole case. Only after this became known, was Kostunica ready to downplay the affair stating that, “the contracts boiled down to overhauling older-generation aircraft engines, rather than to selling state-of-the-art weapons". Catch the Gun-runner, or “The Boka Star Affair” As if this all would still not be enough, on the morning of 24 October, the Croatian authorities brought a report, that the Croatian Navy and the police have seized a Yugoslav ship “Boka Star”, sailing under the Tonga Island flag (but owned by a citizen of Montenegro), immediately after it sailed fromthe Montenegrin port of Bar. The Boka Star actually sailed from the Montenegrin port of Tivat, where it loaded 14 containers of pallets with solid rocket fuel bound for Iraq – via Syria, of course. Although the initial “detailed search” could certainly not prove that the ship was carrying materials needed for military explosives (as stated already on the same morning in the Croatian press), and the ship was not full of spare parts for MiG-21s (as the US authorities believed), the Boka Star was already monitored by the US authorities since some time. Desperate because being unable to trust the Yugoslav authorities to stop the ship and search it, the Americans waited for weeks before learning that the ship would make a stop in Croatia. As soon as this became known, they contacted the Croats, and these intervenned in their name. Through this, it became clear, that the equipment supplied by Orao was usually loaded on one of the Yugoslav merchants in the port of Bar (Montenegro), and then shipped to Tartus, in Syria, in order to be taken by the road to Iraq. In January 2001, the USN 6th Fleet stopped and searched two Syrian merchants in the Mediterranean, but haven’t found anything – simply because of their assessment that it must the Syrians who transport the important and precious loads. But, it was the Boka Star that was bringing the huge shipments of weapons bought in different East European countries through the years 1999, 2000, and 2001. Immediately, it was not completely clear how important was the seizure of the Boka Star, unless the documents seized at Orao – related with the development of the LM.1500 became known. The ship, however, had been used to ferry goods to Iraq via Syria for long time before. Cekovic’s Defense Interestingly, the dismissed Director of Yugoimport, Gen. Jovan Cekovic, defended himself in a pretty silly manner. In the interview to daily Vecernje Novosti, he explained about the session on which he openly asked the Yugoslav government: - Why are you discharging me, is it because I have not been doing a good job? - Who is really discharging me, you or the Americans? - Do I too have to disclose information to the Americans in the Saric Motel to be considered good enough for you? Cekovic said, that he did not get a reply to any of my questions. Obviously completely ignorant for the significance of the weaponry he was about – or perhaps indeed has – supply to Iraq, Cekovic added: “I am leaving, but I am not the problem. The problem is much more serious and could have disastrous consequences for our entire military industry, which currently employs 35,000 people," Cekovic told our reporters as he was waiting to meet the directors of military industries who assembled in the SDPR [Federal Directorate for Supply and Procurement] at around noon. This story about the sale of some MIG-21 parts to Iraq by way of the SDPR is not true. If the people that accused us think that a piece of paper with the SDPR letterhead is proof that we smuggled arms to Iraq, then that is very irresponsible. That merchandise had to transported by trucks, it had to cross the border, yet there is no proof of any smuggling except for that piece of paper. So, some other things are in play. For some months now the SDPR has been exposed to tremendous pressure to allow the Americans to see and control all the capacities and contracts on arms exports during the last five or six years. Of course we took the US inspectors to see all our factories and showed them everything we had at our disposal. They were very pleased. However, we could not show them our contracts simply because we had received permission from the federal government, even though we had requested permission on several occasions. The contracts we have with third countries are labeled as classified and of course we were not able to show them without the permission that we never received" Cekovic said. In this business confidentiality of contracts is sacred! In our exports of arms and military equipment we have been traditionally reliant on the markets of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia," Cekovic went on. "Of course we did not do any arms exports to Iraq because that country is under UN sanctions, which does not mean that we did not trade with some other country that is under unilateral US sanctions. Why our foreign ministry is so keen on implementing "US sanctions" remains a question they have to answer”. Cekovic then went on to explain how decisions like this to cooperate Iraq on such sensitive issues are being made. Every contract that the SDPR makes has to be verified at its board of directors, which include Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic, FRY Police Minister Zoran Zivkovic, FRY Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic, FRY Defense Minister Velibor Radojevic. "After that”, Cekovic said," the FRY Defense Ministry issues its written approval for a trade deal to be implemented, and the FRY Foreign Ministry also has to give its political approval, while the Police Ministry secures the transport of the merchandise in question. Unfortunately, the way the FRY Foreign Ministry has been working lately, our entire military industry can shut down. We cannot complete the $4.5 million deal that we have already started with Kenya because the FRY Foreign Ministry has not given its approval. There is a similar problem with manufacturers that sign contracts with countries of the Middle East because those contracts cannot be implemented and the goods cannot be delivered even though the countries involved are not under UN sanctions. Gen. Cekovic then showed a letter of Prvoslav Davinic, ambassador in the FRY Foreign Ministry, in which the latter informs him that President Bush is personally interested in all the SDPR contracts being made available to the US inspectors, "for the sake of the fight against terrorism. Believe it or not, they even proposed that an American should sit in my office in the future and inspect all our work and our transactions. We are serious people and I did not even want to consider such a possibility." About the Yugoimport’s office in Baghdad, Cekovic said: The decision to close down the SDPR office in Iraq could have catastrophic consequences for the entire country," Cekovic said. "Specifically, Iraq owes our country $1.2 billion and in that office are the documents on the transactions and on the money they owe us. What does that closure mean? Does it mean that we are forfeiting the money they owe us or that we have forfeited a $200 million construction deal that our firms were supposed to get?" Cekovic said and added that he personally offered the Americans to buy Iraq's debt to Yugoslavia, but they were not interested. Yugoimport's CV The Yugoimport was created by the Council of Ministers of the former Yugoslavia on June 27, 1949, as an import-export company tied to the military industry. In mid 1992, Yugoimport started creating subsidiaries and engaged the best of its experts into manufacturing and selling goods intended for civilian use. Four years later Cekovic took over, which is when the health food project began. The same year Yugoimport Ethno Art opened in Cekovic's home town of Kostunici. The Yugoimport group includes companies that sell civilian goods both at home and abroad, provide consultancy and engineering services, manufacture sporting goods and hunting ammunition, and process and sell farm products. The Ravna Gora restaurant in Kostunici is part of one of these companies and is often patronized by foreign businessmen and also executives of companies that Cekovic did business with. After the fall of Milosevic in October 2000, the federal government extended Cekovic's term and he was promoted to lieutenant general by a special decree issued by Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica. On June 16 last year, Cekovic was retired on a motion from the army general staff, ending his military career, but he kept his post at Yugoimport. People who know Cekovic say he took this badly because he was neither old enough nor had enough years of service for retirement. Cekovic's associates say that just several days before he was retired, Cekovic had managed to get Ethiopia and Mozambique to recognize that they owned Yugoslavia $100 million and $15 million, respectively. In 1999 the US administration first accused Cekovic of providing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with anti-personnel mines and tanks. A statement released by the US State Department regarding the affair also mentioned aircraft maintenance and other services. The Yugoslav cabinet in 1999 gave Yugoimport the job of coordinating Yugoslav companies within the UN Oil for Food program. When former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic flew to China in November 1997, there were 30 or so company general managers with him, and Cekovic was one of them. After NATO's intervention in 1999, Cekovic boasted that the Yugoslav army had successfully stood up to the military organization. As a result many third-world countries began considering the purchase of Yugoslav know-how. After the bombing Milosevic gave him a special plaque for his "contribution to the defense of Yugoslavia's freedom and independence." Cekovic is said to have practically doubled Yugoimport's assets in the past several years. Even people who do not like him very much admit that he never shunned a conflict with politicians or hid his ties with some of the former opposition leaders who are now in power. Cekovic is a founder of non-government organization that aims to "salvage companies that are worth saving." He is a key figure in the sale of Yugoslav arms and military equipment since long time. In the past decade he was considered a very important man and practically nothing could be done at Jugoimport without his permission. His company was a kind of umbrella for exports of arms, military equipment, and military technology. Cekovic did his best to keep Yugoimport in charge of many of the lucrative military contracts that used to provide the former Yugoslavia with a very large sum of money indeed. However, recent events have brought changes. Cekovic is out of a job and the federal cabinet has formed a three-man committee to investigate the Iraq affair. Yugoimport's branch office in Iraq has been closed, and the committee is expected to publicize its findings in several days. For now it is not known if anybody else will be fired or arrested in connection with the affair. Cekovic has denied playing a part in any sort of illegal arms deals, stressing that the company's operations were constantly monitored and managed by the federal cabinet, which has people on the managing board. According to Cekovic, the issue is a political one. He says that months ago he was under pressure from government officials to allow American agents to check all facilities and contracts involved in weapons deals with Iraq over the past five to six years. "I allowed American inspectors to check every Serb factory, but I refused to give them a look at the arms export contracts," says Cekovic. He sees himself as being targeted by the authorities because "I am a man who will not allow the domestic military industry to be destroyed." However, Serbian and Yugoslav government sources say the military industry has already lost most of its former power, adding that many production facilities were damaged or destroyed in NATO's 1999 bombing campaign. These sources say the arms trade is mostly in the hands of private sister companies based abroad and controlled by former generals and managers who worked for Yugoimport before the breakup of Ex-Yugoslavia, who are still in touch with Cekovic. Belgrade and Baghdad have been engaged in military cooperation since the early 1970s, when they exchanged military expert groups. Things took off after the Iraq-Iran war broke out in 1980. The former Yugoslavia (mostly the Belgrade-based Energoprojekt, but also other companies from Slovenia and Bosnia) built dozens of reinforced concrete aircraft hangers, military airports, and underground command posts, also providing technology for the mass production of all kinds of small arms ammunition and small surface-to-surface missiles, and Iraqi aircraft and weapons were maintained by military experts in Yugoslavia. When both countries came under international sanctions, arms traders established a black market and smuggled shipments of spare parts to the Iraqi army and air force. What else was delivered to Iraq? The role of Syria, which was the president of the UN Security Council at the time of the described shipments, in the whole affair was also highly important. Obviously, Syria was violating the UN arms embargo on Iraq by sending weapons and military equipment delivered to Syrian ports on to Iraq via trucks and rail. But, the Syrian-Iraqi relationship was not of the quality usually explained in the western press. It was – and perhaps still is - a purely commercial relationship has developed between Iraq and Syria since Basheer Assad – which is heavily investing in the Syrian economy and development – came to power in Damascus. This cooperation is usually badly exaggerated – foremost by Israeli sources. So, while the Syrian purchases of arms for transfer to Iraq – carried by several Syrian and Iraqi shell companies (one of which is owned by Firas Tlas, the son of the Syrian Defense Minister, Mustafa Tlas, and all of which are surely controlled closely by Basheer Assad to one degree or the other) – which included large shipments of refurbished T-55-tank engines and other replacement parts for T-72s, from Bulgaria and Belarus; military trucks from Russia; anti-aircraft guns from the Czech republic; 80 engines and an unknown number of whole radar systems (as well as spare parts for them) for MiG-29s from the Ukraine (important because the RD-33 engines of the MiG-29 have only a very short life); spare parts and refurbished engines for MiG-21s, MiG-23s, and MiG-25s from Serbia, Belarus, and Hungary, the actual meaning of these deals for the relationship between Damascus and Baghdad mean nothing more and nothing less, but that the Syrians are earning good profits (of course, the governments of all these countries strongly denied any direct involvement or involvement on the part of their citizens: however, on 9 or 10 September, just for example, two Czechs and a German were arrested in the Czech Republic, for allegedly organizing illicit exports of Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian arms to Syria and Iraq over a period of three years; the Czech authorities would not reveal any names, except that involved was a Czech pair, a 28-year-old man, and a 69-year-old-woman; also, in Germany, a Russian with Canadian citizenship was arrested for organizing delivery of Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters, Kalashnikov rifles, anti-tank grenades and MANPADs to Iraq). There is no trace of any kind of wider military cooperation between Syria and Iraq – as usually claimed by several Israeli sources, or caused by the boasting of several Syrian diplomats to which the revelation of these operations brought quite a respect from other Arab countries: on the contrary. Most – if not all - of the 80 RD-33 engines and other spare parts purchased from the Ukraine, for example, ended in Syria any way. It is easily possible, that the same happened also with five Su-24Ms Iraqis reportedly purchased from the Ukraine in 1999 (this report was never confirmed, however). The Iraqis have to pay Syrians for each and every shipment – mainly in oil. And still, the Syrians are very carefull: last week, several units of the Syrian Army – including a tank brigade equipped with T-62Ms and two squadrons of fighter-planes - were put on alert for deployment to the Iraqi border, as scurity precaution against any kind of Iraqi attacks against Syria in the case of a possible US invasion of Iraq. This shows very much how “safe” is Syria feeling in regards to its “new partner” (Israeli press) Iraq. In Iraq, such deals are mainly controlled by Quasay, (Saddam Hussein’s son), and the specialized brach of the SSS (Special Security Service), which is the most powerfull of all Iraqi security services, and generally tasked with security of the leadership, control of the military organizations (meanwhile, the SSS has at least one officer in each unit – down to the brigade level – of the Republican Guards and the regular Army, as well as down to the squadron level in the Air Force, and the Army Air Corps), and military industry. Nevertheless, it must be mentioned, that on 23 February 2002 a large shipment of military equipment – organized in the Czech Republic with Syrian and Yemeni export licences – including SAMs and parts for SS-1B Scud ballistic missiles arrived in the Syrian port of Laddakiyah. Two more shipments followed soon after, in March and April. The Israelis became so nervous about these deliveries, that in late April they have sent one of their reconnaissance UAVs into the Syrian airspace, obviously with the task of tracking the movement of a truck convoy carrying military items from Laddakhiyah to Iraq. The “drone”, however, was shot down by Syrian MiG-23 interceptor shortly after crossing the border, and a Jordanian effort to recover it was prevented by a swift deployment of a Syrian team, broght to the crash site by a Mi-8 helicopter. Earlier this year Ukrainian bodyguard Nikolai Melnichenko revealed recordings of the private conversations of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to a court in San Francisco. The tapes, which were inspected by Virginia-based BEK TEK experts, captured a discussion in which Mr. Kuchma approved the sale of three Kalchuga radar systems to Iraq through a Jordanian middleman for $100 million. The Kalchuga is a mobile, passive radar system which can overcome US stealth technology and detect air and land targets up to 500 miles away. Czech arms company Tesla Pardubice has produced a similar system, called Tamara, which brought down two US bombers during the 1990s Balkan wars. Czech arms dealers tried to sell Tamara systems to Iraq in 1997, but at least one deal was halted in Turkey. During the cold war, Czech arms companies supplied much of the Third World, including Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and North Korea, with high-tech military equipment and explosives. Sanctions against clients have drastically cut into profits, but sales continue in various shades of gray. Last year, despite pressure from NATO allies, the Czech Republic officially sold 20 L-39 Albatross light jet fighters to Yemen, a country notorious for reselling weapons to embargoed states such as Sudan. Meanwhile, several recent arrests suggest that the black-market trade in Czech-made Semtex, a virtually undetectable plastic explosive popular with terrorist groups, is booming. Not Only Arms Iraq has not only imported arms, but was successful in importing other support equipment needed for its military. In one case, 13.000 computers banned under UN sactions were – for example – delivered to Aqaba, in Jordan. There, an Iraqi team loaded one computer each into a washing machine, and then trucked them to Iraq. The Jordanian and UN inspections on the Iraqi border haven’t noticed the plot. In another operation, an Arab merchant based in Lebanon, managed to smuggle a load of 25.000 televisions, 600ts of heavy industrial lubricant (from Poland) and steel cables thick enough for use on a suspension bridge were smuggled from South Africa to Iraq. The Iraqis obviously have no problems in getting their hands on the money from the “Oil for Food Program” of the UN. Officially, Iraqi oil revenues go into an escrow account and can only be released by the UN to pay for food and other goods that have been approved by the sanctions committee. In a typical deal, however, the Iraqis purchased a consignment of stationery, a permitted import, and paid – just for example - a corrupt dealer $4 million for an inflated receipt. He shipped the papers to Iraq, received $4 million from the UN, passed $1 million in cash to an Iraqi government agent and pocketed a profit. Benan Sevan, executive director of the UN “Oil-for-food Program”, said that UN officials monitored for such practices but could not catch everyone, and the workload was lengthy and tedious. In an interview to the press, he stated: "We don’t investigate ourselves," Sevan said. "If we have the documents (indicating fraud) we bring it to the notice of the relevant country and they should investigate. But there are so many brokers, you find the one you are after is dealing with another broker, and by the time you get to them they have disappeared".
© Copyright 2002-3 by ACIG.org |
