LONDON (IPS)�The United Kingdom has significantly reduced the value of its arms sales abroad, but continues to sell weapons to countries that are involved in internal repression and regional wars, non governmental groups here say.

Commenting on the British government�s second annual "Report on Strategic Export Controls" released in early November, the independent foreign policy think tank Saferworld says that arms are being sold to countries in Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East, many of them considered to be "sensitive."

This is happening in spite of British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook�s commitment to pursue an "ethical" foreign policy, Saferworld said.

The value of the amount of arms being sold abroad in 1998 decreased from $5.4 billion (U.S.) in 1997 to $3.2 billion in 1998, but the groups accused the New Labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair of blurring details essential for an effective public scrutiny.

The report reveals the number of major "big ticket" items has increased slightly with Kenya, Nigeria and Yemen all receiving armored or utility vehicles.

According to Saferworld, which has conducted a preliminary audit on the report, the data suggests that the UK exported 130 "other weapons including small arms" to sub-Saharan Africa, 1,126 to the Middle East and 1,593 to the rest of Asia throughout 1998.

However, the report goes on to reveal that the picture for the number of licenses granted for small arms to "sensitive" regions is less favorable. This is an area of high concern for monitoring organizations such as Saferworld and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).

Credited research cites small arms�machine guns, pistols, rifles, etc.�as being responsible for 90 percent of casualties in worldwide conflicts. Small arms, of which there are an estimated 500 million in circulation worldwide, are said to have left three million people dead last year.

Nearly a quarter of all arms exports from the UK are for small arms.

According to CAAT�s analysis the report reveals that the number of Open Individual Export Licenses (OIELs), which allows multiple shipments of equipment in a given category, has risen nearly fivefold.

In the eight months from May to December 1997�the period covered in the first annual report�52 new OIELs were granted. In the year 1998�covered by this latest report�that figure grew to 381 which, calculated on a pro rata basis, equates to an increase of just under a factor of five.

The criteria of individual export licenses involves the licensing of police and paramilitary equipment such as riot shields, defensive body armor, military helmets, tear gas and stun grenades to countries with poor human rights records.

These include: body armor and combat helmets to Algeria; body armor to Bahrain, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Indonesia and Pakistan; body armor and stun grenades to Egypt, and body armor and anti-riot shields to Jordan.

Also, it lists anti-riot shields to Brunei, anti riot shields and tear gas ammunition to Lebanon; body armor, anti-riot shields, stun grenades to Oman; body armor, gas and stun grenades to Sri Lanka; and anti-riot shields, and gas grenades, crowd control ammunition and water cannon to Tanzania.

The report has been met with a chorus of disapproval by monitoring organizations not just because of the high level of arms being exported to developing countries but also because of what they term the "lack of transparency�� in the report.