US lifts arms dealing curbs on South Africa

The United States lifted all special restrictions on arms dealing with South Africa on Wednesday, drawing a line under a long-running dispute over illicit apartheid-era weapons trades.
"Trading between companies on the two sides will be considered normal to all intents and purposes. It's the final turning of the page," US Ambassador Cameron Hume told reporters in Pretoria.
Racist apartheid rule ended in South Africa a decade ago, but restrictions on weapons trading with the United States continued due to criminal and civil cases brought by Washington against three South African companies for violating international sanctions against the apartheid regime.
Outstanding cases against South Africa's state arms producers Denel and Armscor and private firm Fuchs were settled in 1996 and 1997, and the following year Washington announced that normal trade had resumed.
But because the exact terms of the settlements were complicated, partly by fluctuating exchange rates, arms deals between the United States and South Africa were still subject to more stringent vetting than for other countries.
Those extra checks will cease after Wednesday's announcement, Hume said.
"Over time there will be a lot more co-operation and I think that's a view shared, significantly, by a number of South African businessmen," he said. Washington is increasingly hoping to develop military co-operation with South Africa, Africa's strongest economy.
Hume announced last Friday that the United States would help train and equip South African troops for African peacekeeping duties, a major focus of President Thabo Mbeki's foreign policy.
South Africa's Foreign Ministry welcomed the announcement, and said it agreed with the US position that South African companies "have developed effective export compliance programmes that meet the criteria of both governments."
Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad urged South African arms makers "to utilise the window provided by this announcement to actively pursue business opportunities in the United States," a ministry statement said.