Richard Norton-Taylor – The government approved a significant increase in arms exports to Indonesia in the first few months of the year despite serious concern from MPs, Foreign Office figures show.

The value of equipment cleared for export in the first three months of the year was 5.5 millin Pounds, against 12.5 million Pounds for the whole of 2003, equivalent to a 76% increase, according to Whitehall's first quarterly report on strategic export controls. Forty-one licences were issued for Indonesia, equivalent to an annual increase of almost 50%.

The equipment included components for aircraft cannons, combat aircraft, general military aircraft, general military vehicles, military aero-engines, and weapons-launching equipment.

Paul Barber, a spokesman for the Indonesian human rights group Tapol, said yesterday: "We are disappointed that the government has failed to respond to repeated concerns about arms exports to a country where there is real risk that equipment will fuel internal conflicts and be used in violation of human rights."

He said the licences had been issued at a time when Indonesia was conducting a martial law offensive in the province of Aceh, its largest military operation since the invasion of East Timor in 1975.

British-made Hawk jets and armoured personnel carriers had been used in the offensive between May 2003 and May this year, which claimed at least 2,000 lives, he said.

A committee of senior MPs in May criticised the government for failing to investigate claims that British equipment had been used in violation of human rights or for offensive purposes in Aceh.

The MPs also criticised the government for inadequate monitoring of the end use of equipment, describing assurances provided by Indonesia as "not worth the paper they are written on".

Export licences for more than 330 million Pounds worth of arms were approved in the first quarter of this year, the figures, released on Wednesday but hitherto unreported, show. Big customers included Taiwan (13.5m), China (9m), India (35.5m) and Pakistan (6.5m).

Referring to continuing arms sales to Middle Eastern countries, Andrew Wood of the Campaign against the Arms Trade, Caat, said it was time the government started working towards a "demilitarised Middle East and imposing an arms embargo".

The Foreign Office minister Lady Symons said the decision to publish quarterly statistics reflected "the government's commitment to improving the openness of the licensing system, which is already acknowledged to be among the most transparent in the world".