January 26, 2008
Stockholm - Sweden announced Friday the sale of six fighter planes to Thailand, a controversial move in the Scandinavian country renowned for promoting peace and democracy around the world.
"We have agreed to sell six JAS 39 Gripen planes and the Erieye radar surveillance system" to Thailand, Mikael Oestlund, a spokesman for Swedish Defence Minister Sten Tolgfors, told AFP.
The deal is worth 3.8 billion kronor (402 million euros, 594 million dollars) and delivery of the planes is set to begin in 2011, according to a defence ministry statement.
"It is very positive that Thailand has chosen Swedish Gripen as the country now prepares to renew its air surveillance system," Tolgfors said in the statement.
The sale of Swedish military equipment to Thailand is especially controversial due to a raging insurgency in the south which has claimed almost 3,000 lives in the past four years, as well as the 2006 military coup.
"There is an armed conflict in Thailand today. This is an extremely inappropriate country to sell the JAS Gripen planes to," Ola Mattsson, who heads the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, told AFP.
When news of the deal leaked out late last year it was widely criticised by the opposition, with opposition Left Party leader Lars Ohly insisting Sweden "should not sell weapons to military dictatorships like Thailand."
Oestlund however pointed out Friday that the military junta that has ruled Thailand since the coup stepped down this week, clearing the way for a democratically elected government.
"The military junta does not exist any longer... The country should be considered a democracy," he said.
Mattsson was not convinced: "Thailand today is still a far cry from being a democracy," he insisted.
While his group is generally critical of Sweden's weapons industry, he said it was not opposed to the Scandinavian country expanding its military equipment sales to "democratic countries" like Norway and European Union members.
"Democracy building is extremely important to Swedish aid policy... and it's very inconsistent to sell weapons to countries like Thailand... This goes against Swedish foreign policy," Mattsson said.
