Amnesty: Clinton must explain military cargo

The US Navy's Military Sealift Command on Thursday insisted that a cargo of weapons with explosives on the ship MV Schippersgracht's en route to Port Said would not be off-loaded in any Egyptian port. The statement came after global human rights group Amnesty International raised concerns that if the weapons ended up in Egypt there was a substantial risk they would be used by security forces to commit serious human rights violations. The US authorities did confirm that the Dutch ship was carrying US military cargo. But the US refused to confirm the final destination or recipient of the weapons, citing security reasons, nor did they give assurances the cargo would not be end up in a country where the weapons were likely to be used to commit gross human rights violations. Amnesty urged US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to clarify who was the final recipient of the latest cargo and give an assurance that this and other US military cargoes were not going to countries where they were likely to be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights.  The organisation also called on Clinton to stop funding Egypt's weapons purchases with US military aid. Between December 11 and February 5, the Egyptian Procurement Office (EPO) of the Armament Authority, Ministry of Defence shipped a total of 349 tons of military and dual use equipment with a value of at least USD$35 million supplied on seven US-flagged cargo ships, which are managed by American President Lines Maritime Ltd. Equipment on these seven cargo ships included military spare parts and components for electronic equipment, tactical and support vehicles, tanker vehicles, armoured vehicles and tanks, spare parts for AH-64 Apache, H-3 and SH-2G(E) helicopters.