U.S. lifts ban on Argentine arms aid

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 11

U.S. lifts ban on Argentine arms aid

NZPA-AP Washington The American State Department, citing “dramatic progress” in Argentina’s human rights position, announced yesterday that country had met Congressional requirements for a resumption of United States military aid. A department spokesman, Alan Romberg, said that the United States had been in close consultation over the move with Britain, which has objected to a resumption of arms sales to Argentina since the Falkland Islands war last year. Legislation dating back to President Jimmy Carter’s Administration barred

United States security aid to Argentina unless the State Department was able to certify an improvement in human rights performance and in other areas. In London the British Government reacted calmly to the decision, in spite of its previously expressed strong objections. The response had reflected the importance Britain attached to maintaining close Anglo-Ameri-can relations and its wish not to ruffle them after recent differences over the United States-led invasion of Grenada, informed sources said. Last month the British

Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, told Parliament that Britain would protest most/vigorously if the United States resumed arms sales to Argentina before a formal cessation of hostilities over the disputed Falkland Islands. In an earlier newspaper interview she said that the lifting of the embargo “would be the single most difficult thing for me ... It is the one thing I am very worried about.”

But the Deputy Foreign Secretary, Baroness Young, said on television yesterday that the Government was not worried about the decision,