NAIROBI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations has said that a total of 77 tanks and 15 jet fighters were secretly imported by Kenya last year alone.

    According to official documents from the United Nations published by the Sunday Nation newspaper, two rocket launchers and more than 40,000 automatic rifles and machine guns were also brought in.

    Yet the Kenyan government has not reported its arms purchases to the United Nations as required by international agreements. Instead, Kenya told the UN it had not imported any arms at all, the documents were quoted as saying.

    According to the newspaper, the purchases are detailed in a report by Ukraine to the United Nations in which it said it had exported the tanks and guns, among other weapons.

    "The jet fighter imports from Jordan are shown in a report published on the internet this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute which tracks the international movement of arms," said the newspaper.

    Ukraine's reports of exports to Kenya were filed by the source country to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, UNROCA.

    The revelations came as mystery persists in the country over the ownership of a military hardware aboard the Ukrainian ship which was hijacked off Somalia late last month.

    The MV Faina is currently moored off Somalia's coast close to the town of Hoboyo. There have been conflicting reports of where the Faina and its cargo are destined.

    Kenya has insisted that the shipment is destined for its military. But regional maritime official, including a US navy spokesman, said it was bound for the autonomous government of south Sudan, in possible contravention of a peace accord.

    Since 1993 when the register was first compiled, Kenya has been reporting that it made no imports and no exports of arms.

    The purchases represent a significant rearming of Kenya's military. As a sovereign nation, Kenya has a right to buy and sell arms.

    Kenya treats virtually all information about its military as classified, though a lot of information about its strength and armaments can be gleaned from officials and academic sources.

    The report by the Stockholm Institute shows that Ukraine inherited millions of small arms and light weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, ending up with over 7 million small arms and light weapons which it has over the years exported to different countries.

    The top five importers were the United States, Britain, Libya, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

    "Ukraine has made significant progress in improving transparency and controlling exports in recent years," wrote Paul Holtom of the institute.

    According to the latest report released by the Ukrainian government, Kenya imported 40,000 automatic rifles and submachine guns and 405 grenade launchers last year.

    "Although Kenyan officials made it clear that the 33 T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition aboard the hijacked Ukrainian ship MV Faina were part of a larger deal under which tanks, artillery and small arms and light weapons were delivered by Ukraine in 2007, these weapons did not appear in Kenya's recent submission to UNROCA for 2007," Holtom said.

    Significantly, he pointed out, the report to UNROCA of no imports or exports was made on Sept. 26 this year, the same day that MV Faina was hijacked off the coast of Somalia and just hours before it was expected to dock at the port of Mombasa, east Kenya.

    The international mechanism for reporting imports and exports of arms and light weapons was established in 1992, the Sunday Nation established, but Kenya has always reported to the United Nations that it neither imported nor exported small arms and light weapons.