[Deuda-QdQ] (Info) Reino Unido hace público sus "deudores" por primera vez

["Tom Kucharz - Ecologistas en Acción"]

---------------------------- Mensaje original ----------------------------
Asunto: [illegitimate_debt] UK releases origin of debt for first time
De:     "Tim Jones" <tim en jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk>
Fecha:  Mar, 6 de Noviembre de 2012, 10:30 am
Para:   illegitimate_debt en lists.riseup.net
        debtuk en googlegroups.com
        ecgd-uk en googlegroups.com
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Hi everyone,

Yesterday the UK government for the first time released information on
where the debts owed to the UK come from. As a result of our campaigning,
they have finally calculated how much different sectors contribute to the
debts. For example, the new information reveals that:
- 38% of Argentina's debt comes from loans for military equipment
- 56% of Ecuador's debt comes from loans for military equipment
- 23% of Egypt's debt comes from loans for military equipment
- 74% of Indonesia's debt comes from loans for military equipment
- 70% of Kenya's debt comes from the power sector, thought to be the
highly corrupt Turkwel Dam 'white elephant'

The Financial Times has covered the story today (see below).

The information is on UK Export Finance's website:
http://www.ukexportfinance.gov.uk/publications/plans-and-reports/sovereign-debt-data

We will be in touch with various ways we are following this up.

Tim

UK owed millions by repressive regimes

By Kiran Stacey, Political Correspondent



Foreign countries owe the UK hundreds of millions of pounds that was
originally borrowed by repressive regimes to pay for British-made arms,
government data has revealed.



Information published by UK Export Finance, the government department that
manages foreign debt, shows Britain in the past lent nearly £1bn to
countries including Indonesia, Egypt and Iraq to pay for weapons, some of
which are alleged to have been used against civilians.

·

·        Debt relief campaigners have reacted angrily to the revelations,
calling on the government to cancel any debt originally incurred by such
regimes.



Tim Jones, policy officer at the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: "The figures
reveal a past history of horrendous loans to dictators such as [Egypt's]
General Mubarak, General Suharto [of Indonesia] and Saddam Hussein for
military equipment. People in these countries should not have to pay these
unjust debts."



The figures provide a snapshot of the history of UK government lending:
they include all recorded loans made to countries that have still not
fully repaid the money. They do not include details of loans to countries
that have paid off their debt.



Of the 20 countries included, the highest borrower is Indonesia, which
spent more than £630m out of a total £853m in loans on defence equipment.
Much of that money was lent to General Suharto, in power from 1967-98, to
buy British weapons. Some of those were used against civilians to quash
uprisings in East Timor, according to statements by Robin Cook, the former
foreign secretary.



Another heavy borrower is Argentina, from which the UK is still chasing
£45m in loans originally made to the military junta in 1979 to buy weapons
later used to invade the Falkland Islands. The figures released on Monday
show nearly 40 per cent of all the money Britain lent to Argentina was
used to buy military equipment.



Controversy also surrounds £100m lent to Egypt for weapons under the
regimes of Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, for which the Egyptians are
still repaying £12m a year. Mr Mubarak was toppled from power last year at
the beginning of the Arab uprisings.



More than £5m, meanwhile, was lent to Iraqi leader Saddam in deals that
first emerged in the so-called "arms-to-Iraq" scandal.



A further £12m was lent to Zimbabwe to pay for Land Rovers. A report by
Amnesty International previously alleged the vehicles were used in attacks
against opposition activists in 2001.



Campaigners are now calling on the government to conduct a full audit of
the debt still owed to the British government. UKEF did not respond to a
request to comment.



------------------------------------------
Tim Jones
Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer
Jubilee Debt Campaign
The Grayston Centre
28 Charles Square
London
N1 6HT
United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)20 7324 4725