1st October, 2006

Global military spending is expected to reach as high as $US1.06 trillion this year, a figure which outstrips the highest figure reached during the Cold War and is equivalent to 15 times current international aid expediter, according to international aid agency Oxfam.

The organisation, which is calling for an Arms Trade Treaty which would ban arms sales that fuel “poverty, conflict and human rights abuses”, says conflict is the top cause of human hunger.

Bernice Romero, Oxfam International’s campaigns director, says that “year on year arms spending escalates and year on year conflicts are causing more hunger and suffering”.

“Arms sales do not start conflicts, but they certainly fuel and lengthen them. It is time the world stemmed the uncontrolled flood of weapons into the world’s war zones. The world must agree to start work on an Arms Trade Treaty this October.”

According to Oxfam, 61 per cent of African countries affected by food crises are in the grip of civil wars.

Countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Botswana and Uganda all doubled their military spending between 1985 and 2000 while between 2002 and 2003 Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan spent more on military than on health care.

- DAVID ADAMS