Cook blames UN for arms to Western Sahara scandal

The decision contravened Foreign Office guidelines that guns and spare parts should not be exported to areas where they could be used for internal repression or the staking of a territorial claim. A Foreign Office spokeswoman has confirmed that "applications are checked to make sure they don’t enable either side [in a conflict] to strengthen their military might".

At a joint Select Committees Inquiry into Strategic Export Controls on January 30, Mr Cook reportedly said that the UN "objected" to his decision not to grant the gun parts licence, and that this objection prompted him to grant the licence – in contravention of foreign office guidelines. Mr Cook said, "the ground for our refusal was rather removed by the UN moving an objection to it". At the time of the "objection" the UN were fulfilling a peacekeeping role in the region.

Mr Cook said that the UN said the export of gun parts was permitted under the Morocco-Western Sahara ceasefire agreement of 1991, and that the gun refurbishment project would be "force neutral". Mr Cook said that both the UN in New York and the peacekeeping force, MINURSO, offered to oversee the gun refurbishment programme, despite their peacekeeping role.

A spokesman for the UN described Mr Cook’s comments as "bizarre", and said, "There are certain regions to which arms should not be sold and the UK, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, should not violate this".

War on Want senior campaigner Steve Tibbett said: "If these assertions are true, we are very concerned that the UK government is endorsing arms exports from the UK to a disputed territory. We are also alarmed that the UN is sanctioning arms exports when they are supposed to be the peace-keepers in the region".