South African parastatal defence firms Armscor and Denel, and the private electronics firm Fuchs were barred in 1994 from doing business in the United States for violating US export control laws.

The ban stemmed from a 1991 US indictment accusing the firms of using front companies to purchase weapons in the United States from 1978 to 1989 in violation of the UN arms embargo on the apartheid regime.

After years of negotiations, US Ambassador Cameron Hume announced that all legal matters had been resolved and that the three firms were now cleared to fully return to the lucrative US defence contract market.

"South African companies now have an open field in the American defence industry," Hume was quoted by the SAPA news agency as saying.

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said in a statement that "this announcement has removed the final impediment in the defence industry relations between the two countries."

Pahad "encouraged Denel, Fuchs, Armscor and the South African defence industry at large to utilize the window provided by this announcement to actively pursue business opportunities in the United States."

Denel, which has several divisions, is a leading manufacturer of aeronautics, ballistics and communication systems including the Umkhonto surface-to-air missile and sophisticated submarine periscopes.

Armscor, which stands for the Armaments Corporation of South Africa, broke off from Denel in 1992 and is now the acquisition agency for the South African national defense force.

Armscor said the US decision to scrap the ban would also give US defence contractors access to South African tenders for military purchases.

"We will stand to benefit, they will stand to benefit," Armscor spokeswoman Minah Sindane Bloom told AFP.

She added that South Africa had relied on military suppliers from Europe but that opening up defence trade with the United States would allow Armscor "to cast a wider net."

South Africa currently is seeking tenders for a multi-million contract to supply about 400 infantry combat vehicles to its army.

While the ban on the three firms was eased in 1998, it continued to dog military trade between the two countries.

WAR.WIRE