[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Re Fitz Werner Arms traffickers, De



Subject: Re Fitz Werner Arms traffickers, Death merchants

Ce message est en plusieurs parties sous format MIME.
--------------6BA717724CF4
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
see file on fitz werner (9999 preparations???)ds
Indiana wrote:> 
> Dear Dawn Star,
> 
> I haven't heard of the Fritz Warner Company, but perhaps you have some
details for us?
> 
> As for its Director, Mr. Christ (unusual name!), could it be the same
Hans Christ cited by the Lawyer's Committee for Human Rights in their
report "Justice in El Salvador: A Case Study" (July 1982, New York)?
> 
> According to the report, Christ, son of a German Nazi who escaped to
Salvador after World War Two, lived in Miami and was a part owner of the
Salvador Sheraton Hotel.  He was implicated in the killing of four American
nuns in Salvador in 1980, and was later charged with the triple murder of
two American advisors on agrarian reform, Michael Hammer and Mark Perlman,
and the Salvadoran director of the Institute of Agrarian Reform, Jose
Adolfo Viera.  The three men were shot point blank while they w
> 
> According to Joan Didion in her book "Salvador" (1984), the charges
against Christ "were later dropped, then followed by a series of other
charges, arrests, releases, expressions of "dismay" and "incredulity" from
the American embassy, and even, in the fall of 1982, confessions to the
killings from two former National Guard corporals, who testified that Hans
Christ had led them through the lobby and pointed out the victims."
> 
> Could this be the person that the military rulers of the country of
Myanmar have chosen to do business with?
> 
> (Too bad Alexander Downer missed the meeting.  He might have offered
Christ a seat on the Myanmar Human Rights Commission.)
> 
> At 09:37 PM 8/26/99 +0200, Dawn Star wrote:
> 
> Fritz Werner, as in the arms traffickers?
> 
> >OKKAR66129@xxxxxxx wrote:
> >> Minister meets Ambassador of United Kingdom
> >> YANGON, 24 Aug-Minister for Energy Brig-Gen Lun Thi met Ambassador of
United
> >> Kingdom Dr John lenkins who called at his office at 9 am today.
Similarly,
> >> Minister for Energy Brig-Gen Lun Thi met Director of Fritz Werner
Company Mr
> >> Christ and party who called at his office at 10 am today.
> >> Also present at the call were Deputy Minister Brig-Gen Thein Aung,
> >> Director-General U Soe Myint of Energy Planning Department and
officials.
> >> -------------
> >

--------------6BA717724CF4
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="arm.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="arm.txt"

Re Fritz Werner, read this if you havent already...ds


Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries Limited

According to Rangoon based military analysts the import substitution effort is
coordinated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, which shares a compound
on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road with Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries Limited near the
headquarters of the Ministry of Industry 2 [heavy industry] and the workshops
of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps. The largest weapons
factory is reportedly at Sindell [Sinde], just south of Prome. There are also
ammunition factories at Htonebo, Padaung and Nyaung Chidauk, four factories in
Rangoon and military supplies factories at Inndaing [Intaing] in Pego division
and in Mandalay.

The factories produce 
automatic rifles, 
light machine guns, 
light mortars,
grenades, 
anti-personnel mines, 
ammunition and 
military supplies such as
uniforms, parachutes and sports equipment. 



Rangoon-based diplomatic sources confirmed that troops guarding 
the Yadana Pipeline project at Kambauk had recently been
outfitted with EMERK-1 assault rifles and LMGs, apparently confirming the
factory has been operational for a number of months...
			oooOooo

EXPOSED - BURMA'S WEAPONS INDUSTRY
JANE'S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW[burmanet2-l] 

EXPOSED BURMA'S WEAPONS INDUSTRY 
December, 1998
Pointer

In order to lower the cost of military imports and circumvent possible arms
embargoes in the future the Burmese government is engaging in a major military
import substitution effort. The programme has produced a number of prototype
automatic rifles, light machine guns and vehicles modified for military
purposes. Burma is now manufacturing at least one of the prototype automatic
rifles in a custom-built factory supplied by Singapore earlier this year.

The Burmese military had for some years been looking for a replacement for its
locally manufactured G2 and G3 automatic rifles which are heavy and prone to
jamming. In 1995 the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps [EMEC] has
designed 16 light machine guns and automatic rifles, all 5.56 mm except for
one light machine gun which is 7.62 mm. 

Rangoon-based analysts believe the
Burmese received foreign assistance to design the weapons. 

*    EMERK-1 assault rifles  ******

The prototypes include 5.56 mm versions of the G3 automatic rifle, 
the Chinese Type 56 and Israeli Galil
assault rifles, and the radical EMERK-1 
which comes in both LMG and automatic rifle versions.

The EMERK-1 is designed in a shortened bullpup configuration with the magazine
behind the trigger. The AR and LMG versions look almost identical, both 832 mm
in length with stamped all-metal bodies, M16 magazines and the same effective
range and firing rate, given as 400 metres, and 650 rounds per minute. The
only obvious difference is the LMG version weighs in at 4.5 kilograms
[magazine empty], 5 00 grams heavier than the AR. Previously Rangoon based
analysts
believed the EMERK-1 was copied from the Austrian Steyr, but it may be
based on a Chinese shortened bullpup configuration automatic rifle that was
only unveiled publicly during the Hong Kong hand-over in July 1997.

Other efforts of the EMEC include the "Special Combat Vehicle," a 1995 Nissan
ULG 160 GS long wheel-base landcruiser sized vehicle, purchased with Japanese
Government debt relief grant credits and modified for crowd control and urban
warfare. It features a roof-mounted 12.7mm Browning FN Herstal machine gun, a
bonnet-mounted 7.62 mm MG3 LMG, a bonnet-mounted 84 mm Carl Gustav M2 rocket
launcher and in the rear carries one each of 81 mm M29 and 60 mm Type 63
mortars. The Special Combat Vehicle made its first public appearance in
December 1996 patrolling the streets during student-led protests in Rangoon.
The 1996 "Armoured Fighting Car", an EMEC designed armoured car, sits on a
Ford light truck chassis with a 1996 Nissan diesel engine which was
probably bought using Japanese debt repayment grant credits. The Armoured
Fighting Car
features a 12.7 mm Type 85 machine gun and a 7.62 mm MG3 LMG. It was also
first seen in December 1996 patrolling Rangoon.

Many of the duel use and intermediate goods used in weapons production appear
to have been paid for with Japanese Government debt relief grants in violation
of official Japanese Government policy. The most obvious examples, apart from
the "Special Combat Vehicle," are the Nissan 10 tonne military
container-transport trucks. 

Since 1988 the International Institute of Strategic Studies [IISS] has
identified at least 20 Hino APCs and 30 Mazda
scout cars which were locally made in defiance of official Japanese
Government policy not
to allow aid to be used for military purposes.

********Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries Limited

According to Rangoon based military analysts the import substitution effort is
coordinated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, which shares a compound
on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road with Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries Limited near the
headquarters of the Ministry of Industry 2 [heavy industry] and the workshops
of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps. The largest weapons
factory is reportedly at Sindell [Sinde], just south of Prome. There are also
ammunition factories at Htonebo, Padaung and Nyaung Chidauk, four factories in
Rangoon and military supplies factories at Inndaing [Intaing] in Pego division
and in Mandalay.

The factories produce 
automatic rifles, 
light machine guns, 
light mortars,
grenades, 
anti-personnel mines, 
ammunition and 
military supplies such as
uniforms, parachutes and sports equipment. 

Burma manufactures much of its own ammunition - 
5.56 mm [since at least 1996], 7.62 mm and 9 mm bullets, 
51 mm, 81 mm, 60 mm and 120 mm mortar bombs, 
41 mm and 51 mm rifle grenades and probably grenades for its 
40 mm launchers. 

Locally made BA88 offensive and BA91
defensive landmines, BA109 hand grenades, and also manufactures its own 
81mm rocket launcher, the BA84.

******Defence Services Academy officer training school 

In recent years two iron and steel mills, one at Ywama near Rangoon and the
other at Maymyo, north of Mandalay have been modernized in an effort to
eventually produce high quality and hardened steel. Maymyo is also the home of
the elite Defence Services Academy officer training school and the Defence
Services Institute of Technology where the Government intends to train
technicians and designers for its weapons manufacturing industry. 

Machining equipment has been obtained mainly from Germany, 
China and Singapore.

Burma took delivery of $15 million worth of Machine tools from China in early
1997 according to a Rangoon-based diplomatic source. Rangoon imports of
duel-use and intermediate goods for the 12 months ended March 31 1996 at 
$91 million, up from $35 million the previous 12 months 
according to US Embassy estimates. 

There are no publicly available figures for later periods.

The United States appears to have sold small quantities dual use goods to
Burma which ended up in its weapons factories. US Department of Commerce
figures indicate that in 1995 Burma directly imported from the US in 1995 
$212,000 worth of explosives and pyrotechnic products, 
twice as much as in any previous year; 
$88,000 worth of ball or roller bearings, more than ten times as much as
in any previous year; $568,000 worth of non-electrical machinery and tools,
more than 40 times more than in any previous year; and $2.93 million worth of
machinery for specialized but unspecified industries, more than six times more
than in any previous year. This figure does not include goods manufactured in
the US which are sold to middleman countries such as Singapore before final
sale to Burma. The figures, though largely irrelevant as a percentage of total
military imports, indicate an increasing emphasis put on local weapons
production. [I am still trying to get hold of more recent figures.]

********* Chartered Industries of Singapore [CIS] **********

Singapore has provided Burma with a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture
small weapons and ordnance. The modular, prefabricated factory was designed
and built in Singapore last year by state-owned 
Chartered Industries of Singapore [CIS]  with assistance from Israeli
consultants believed to be current or
former employees of Israel Military Industries [IMI] last year. 

The plant was tested in Singapore then dismantled and shipped to Burma in 
February of this year. 

It is capable of making small arms or ordnance of up to 37 mm according to
sources contacted by Jane's Defence Weekly in July. Its modular design
allows for easy
factory expansion.The Directorate of Defence Industries, Ministry of
Defence, Burma's
state-owned arms and ordinance manufacturer, took delivery of the facility.

Because of the factory's design it could conceivably have been re-assembled 
within a matter of weeks. 

It may also have been erected inside an existing building
such as an aircraft hanger or a warehouse. 

Rangoon-based diplomatic sources confirmed that troops guarding 
the Yadana Pipeline project at Kambauk had recently been
outfitted with EMERK-1 assault rifles and LMGs, apparently confirming the
factory has been operational for a number of months.

Burma first attempted to build its own arms in the 1950s. Copies of the
Italian 9 mm TZ45 sub machine gun [known in Burma as the BA52 or derisively
referred to as "Ne Win's sten"] [sic]. 

This gun was first produced in Italy in 1944 but
production was halted with the end of the Second World War. The Burmese Govt
purchased the machine tools to manufacture a slightly modified version of the
gun. 

Ne Win, army chief at the time, was actively involved in the purchase
negotiations. There were financial irregularities regarding the deal.

The BA52 was manufactured at the Army Ordinance Workshop near Inya Lake,
Rangoon. One of the Italian designers of the gun was sent to Burma 
to oversee the construction of the factory and installation of the machinery. 

The Italian company also sent over an attractive 
Italian model to keep Ne Win company. 

The democratically elected government of the time was so embarrassed that 
Ne Win was almost fired from his position as army commander. 

In 1953 the BA52 became
the standard machine gun of the Burmese armed forces. The gun was a crude
design which made it easy to manufacture but prone to jamming.

In 1953 Fritz Werner GmbH agreed to build a factory in Rangoon [with the
assistance of West German arms firm Heckler & Koch] to produce 
Gewehr-3 rifle [G3 rifles]. 

******FORMER NAZIS BUILT BURMESE ARMS FACTORY******

Fritz Werner was a small armourments engineering company in
Geisemheim which had gone bankrupt with the end of WW2 and was taken over by
the West German Government. 1953 was one year before the West German
Government recognized Burma and two years before it had an embassy in
Rangoon. Finance for the factory was provided on favourable terms by the
West German
Government.

A second factory was built at Prome to manufacture 7.62 mm and 9 mm
ammunition.More arms factories were built in the 1970s, most by Fritz
Werner, some with the assistance of engineers from the German Technical
Cooperation Agency. In
late 1984 Fritz Werner Industries Co, the only joint venture between a foreign
company and the Burmese Government at the time, was set up in partnership with
the state-owned Heavy Industries Corporation of Burma.

In 1988 following the massacre of thousands of anti-Government protesters in
Rangoon and other Burmese cities, the West German Government suspended
bilateral aid to Burma and Fritz Werner stopped supplying inputs for Burma's
factories. At that time Fritz Werner was still state-owned but in 1989 it was
privatized. Following its privatization Fritz Werner appears to have quietly
resumed exports of "industrial machinery" to Burma. 

In 1990 a joint venture with a book value of 
$8 million was set up called Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries Ltd.

Singaporean technicians have apparently replaced most of the German technical
staff at Padaung on the opposite side of the Irrawaddy river from Prome,
though the Government of Singapore has categorically denied that Singaporean
companies are in any way engaged in arms production there. 

There are still German Nationals working for Myanmar Fritz Werner
Industries Ltd in Rangoon and
senior executives from the company's head office at Geisemheim, Germany,
still make regular visits to Burma where they meet with senior government 
and military leaders.

Given the relative scale and sophistication of the import substitution
programme - upgraded steel mills, a technician training school, the
development of new and in some cases radically designed weapons and the
increasing amount of money being spent duel use and intermediate military 
inputs, it appears the Burmese Government has a long term vision to
re-equip itself with locally made
modern assault rifles and light machine guns, with a view to exporting arms
and ordnance in the future. It is open to question how practical this
vision is, given that Burma's previous attempts at building weapons have
not been
particularly successful. To date Burmese military equipment has been of
inferior quality with guns prone to jamming and ordnance commonly misfiring.

The personal bodyguards of senior government officials 
still carry Uzis rather than EMERK-1 machine guns, 
perhaps reflecting the level of faith the Burmese
leaders themselves place in the reliability of locally 
manufactured weapons.

http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm


--------------6BA717724CF4--