Prime minister Juhan Parts demands apology from Postimees

  Estonian prime minister Juhan Parts demands an apology from the Postimees daily for its claims concerning shipment of arms to Iraqi security forces.

Postimees wrote that NATO had asked Estonia to deliver the arms ahead of agreed schedule, but the government had decided to release the arms only after making absolutely sure that all legal requirements were fulfilled so that the opposition could not accuse the government later for breaking the law.

Postimees reported last week that Estonia had caused an international scandal by delaying the shipment of arms that it promised to Iraqi security services. To make matters worse, since Estonia was not ready to deliver the arms, Parts avoided NATO general secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer who attempted to phone Parts to get a confirmation that Estonia was ready to release the arms.

According to Postimees, Estonia had promised to send a shipment of arms to Iraqi security forces including 2,400 Kalashnikov rifles and 1.1 million bullets. The plane to pick up the cargo was to arrive in Tallinn on January 16.

When Estonia did not confirm to NATO that it is ready to provide the goods on January 16, NATO general secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in person attempted to contact Parts on the previous day that was Saturday.

Scheffer wanted to ask Parts whether Estonia was ready to receive the transport aircraft rented by NATO the next day.

The shipment was sent out of Estonia only on January 27.

Source : BBN