Libya replete with EU arms as Gaddafi massacres protesters

As dead bodies pile up on the streets of Tripoli and blocked phone lines hamper the EU evacuation effort, the latest EU figures show that EU countries just two years ago granted over €160 million of export licences to Libya for small arms and electronic jamming kit.

The Union's latest report on arms exports, out in January and covering 2009, says that EU countries granted €687.6 million worth of Libya licences just two years before the massacre. Figures for actual shipments are incomplete.

With the UK's Associated Press agency reporting on Tuesday (22 February) that the streets of Tripoli "are littered with the bodies of scores of protesters shot dead by security forces," the EU report notes that Malta in 2009 granted licences and actually shipped €79.7 million of small arms to the regime. Belgium granted €18 million of licences and Bulgaria €3.7 million.

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