UN names forces in struggle for Congo gold fields
Secret report on militias' backers could embarrass Britain
David Pallister
Thursday December 4, 2003
The Guardian
A confidential United Nations report has accused Rwanda, Uganda and elements within
the new transitional government in Congo of continuing to arm militias in the country
to keep control of the rich diamond and gold fields.
The document, part of a longer report on the exploitation of the Democratic Republic
of Congo's mineral resources published in October, was sent privately to the security
council because of its "highly sensitive" information.
If the allegations are true they will sorely test the 10,000-strong UN military
mission trying to bring order to the country. Last week, in his latest assessment of
the mission's task, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, spoke of a "vicious circle
of lawlessness" and "massive violations" of human rights continuing unabated.
The report is also likely to embarrass the British government, the biggest bilateral
aid donor to both Uganda and Rwanda. The former international development minister,
Clare Short, was a defender of Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, despite criticism that
UK aid was fuelling Rwanda's intervention in Congo.
One of the most explosive allegations is that the veteran opposition politician
Etienne Tshisekedi, who returned to the DRC in September after two years in exile in
South Africa, is preparing a rebellion, with the support and advice of Rwanda, in the
central province of Kasai Oriental.
Mr Tshisekedi's party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), refused to
join the transitional government in June after he was denied one of the four
vice-presidencies. A month later, the report says, his 3,000-strong militia was
supplied with weapons shipped from an unnamed sub-Saharan country through Rwanda and a
group of 42 UDPS militiamen was sent to the same country for military training.
Some observers believe the report's allegations against Mr Tshisekedi may have been
overtaken by events. After being excluded from the new government he allied himself
with the Rwandan-backed rebel group Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and denounced
the president, Joseph Kabila, as a new dictator. But he recently told a South African
newspaper that he was preparing for the elections expected within two years with "love
and fraternity".
The machinations of the Rwandan military "are considered to be the most serious
threat" to the government in Kinshasa, the report says. It alleges that Rwandan
officers are providing training and arms for two other militia groups in the east,
including the Congolese National Army (ANC), the military wing of the former rebel
faction RCD-Goma, whose leader is now one of four vice-presidents in the government.
Documents obtained by the panel of experts who produced the report show arms shipments
to this militia up to August this year, in direct contravention of the July UN arms
embargo on the eastern part of the country.
The report says that evidence from internal documents shows that money for the arms is
raised through the sale of minerals owned by the Congo Holding Development Company, a
mining and trading firm based in Goma, near the Rwandan border. The company was set up
by Gertrude Kitembo, a senior member of RCD-Goma and now minister of
telecommunications. In its previous report last year, the panel recommended financial
sanctions against the company.
The other Rwandan-armed group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), with 10,000
regulars in the north-east area of Ituri, is under direct control of the Rwandan
army's high command, the report says. Rwanda formally withdrew its troops from Congo
last year.
Uganda, whose troops were pulled out in May, is accused of protecting its commercial
interests through three proxy militias operating in the prosperous Ituri district.
In July a plane was intercepted at Beni airport, close to the Ugandan border,
containing ammunition destined, according to militia passengers, for Commandant Jerome
Kakawavu Bakonde, the leader of one of the factions, known as FAPC. The report says
that the arms were to help FAPC to force Ashanti Goldfields, which controls the
Mongbwala goldfield, to work with Ugandan officials, such as the chief of military
intelligence, rather than authorities in Kinshasa.
Receipts obtained by the panel suggest that one of the militias is directly funded by
the office of President Museveni. The president's press secretary did not respond to
an email setting out the claim.
Special report
Congo
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
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