Text:
http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/world/121798/world50_6548.html
Source App: [Global News - Netscape]
Uganda reportedly purchased 62 'junk'
Soviet-era tanks
Copyright © 1998 Nando Media
Copyright © 1998 The Associated Press
Africa News Online.
KAMPALA, Uganda (December 17, 1998 4:05 p.m. EST
http://www.nandotimes.com) -- The Ugandan government purchased 62 T-55 Soviet-era tanks through an Israeli arms dealer and some were defective on arrival, the government-owned New Vision newspaper reported Thursday.
The newspaper said Uganda allegedly purchased the tanks from Israeli arms dealer Amos Golan of Silver Shadow Ltd.
Silver Shadow Advanced Security Systems Ltd. issued a statement Thursday through its lawyer's office in Tel Aviv denying any involvement in the deal.
"Our clients never supplied -- directly or indirectly -- tanks to Uganda, and it goes without saying that they were not involved in any sale of tanks which have technical defects," the statement said.
Earlier, the Israeli Embassy declined to comment on the newspaper report.
The newspaper said the tanks arrived last month in the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam and were transported by rail to Masaka, 80 miles southwest of the capital Kampala.
The newspaper said the tanks were shipped from Ukraine, but may have come from Bulgaria or Romania.
Opposition legislator Aggrey Awori, a critic of President Yoweri Museveni's government, told The Associated Press this week the government paid $750,000 each for the tanks, which he said are in poor condition.
Awori said the market price for tanks in such condition would be $230,000.
"They are definitely junk," he said. "We do not believe they are combat-worthy."
He accused the Ugandan government of buying the tanks to supply the Congolese rebellion in eastern Congo. Uganda and Rwanda are backing the Congolese rebels in their fight to oust President Laurent Kabila.
Previous New Vision reports have said the tanks were more than 30 years old and that 10 did not even operate. The T-55 tank was first manufactured in 1958, but continued to be manufactured in Eastern European countries until 1981.