The dispute between Italian mobile crane manufacturer Autogru Rigo and the United Nations over the export of cranes to Iraq has taken a new twist with another order being blocked.
The UN first blocked the sale of two Rigo cranes to Iraq last year (News Dec00/Jan01, p5) because of the possibility of them being used for military purposes. One of those two cranes, an RT 1600, has now been cleared and will enter Iraq in May. The UN, however, has now blocked the sale of five more RT1600s to a construction and water development company in Iraq, putting the RT 1200 from the first order back in limbo.
As with the previous order, the US delegate to the UN blocked the deal after the tender had been approved because of the possibility of ‘dual use’. The UN requested information about the pumps and electrovalves on the crane, which Rigo has provided. Export manager Daniele Rigo is once again furious. “I don’t accept this,” he said. “Anything can have dual use. If you sell a pad of paper it can be used to plan air strikes. Does that make it dual use?” Daniele Rigo remains confident that he will be able to sell the cranes somewhere else if the whole deal collapses, but feels he should not have to and complains that “the goalposts have been moved halfway through”.
