Vehicles sent to Syria were mechanical diggers, says Bourgeois

The “military vehicles” approved for export by the government of Flanders earlier this year were two mechanical diggers, minister-president Geert Bourgeois has said. Bourgeois was responding to news broken by the opposition party SP.A that the government had approved the sale of military equipment to Syria. 

The sale was referred to in a report from the government’s service for the control of strategic goods and originally revealed by the independent Flemish Peace Institute. The report mentions an export licence for a value of €34,000 for “vehicles and parts for same, specially designed for military use”. The destination listed is “industry”.

The peace institute questioned whether the sale was not in breach of the Flemish government’s arms embargo, introduced during the last legislature by Bourgeois’ predecessor, Kris Peeters.

According to a spokesperson for Bourgeois, however, the licence concerned “two second-hand diggers destined for a civilian end-user, namely a company that produces limestone for construction and agriculture”. The machinery is not designed for military use but is classified as “suitable” for military use because the diggers are equipped with lights that can be dimmed, he said.

“We’re glad that the minister-president came forward quickly with this news,” said Tine Soens, a socialist member of the Flemish parliament. “We have to be extremely careful with the delivery of material with a potential military use to conflict regions such as Syria, even if it does not concern weapons as such or go directly to the military.”

Photo: Monty Rakusen/Corbis