Three Catholics Bishops, Terence Brain of Salford, Thomas McMahon of Brentwood and Patrick O’ Donoghue of Lancaster, and 27 Christian leaders have asked for the closing down of DESO, the agency of the British government that exports weapons throughout the world. The campaign of boycotting the DESO is being promoted by the Christian Churches, pacifist organizations, some MPs and Nobel prizewinner Mairead Corrigan Maguire. The United Kingdom is in fourth place in the world classification of arms-exporting countries. On 16 October two pacifist organizations, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (close to the Catholic Church) and the Campaign against Arms Trade, surrounded the London offices of DESO with a human chain, asking for the closing down of the organization, now in its 40th year. “Our partners abroad are worried by the availability of arms in their countries – explained Chris Cole, director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation -; the arrival of weapons from such countries as the UK destroys all the patient work of building peace and security”.
