Ironduke

UN experts point fingers over arms to militias in DR Congo

KIGALI (AFP) Nov 07, 2003

Rwanda, Uganda and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have all provided weapons to different militia groups in the DRC, prolonging fighting in the east of the country, a UN report said.

The delivery of arms by Kinshasa and the two neighbouring countries took place in recent months up until August in some cases, the report said.

The confidential document, a copy of which was obtained by AFP in Kigali Friday, was sent to the United Nations Security Council in late October.

It was attached to a report by UN experts on the illegal exploitation of resources in DRC.

A transition government was officially set up in the DRC at the end of June after a peace agreement was signed earlier this year.

It was hailed as signalling the end of the DRC conflict, which began five years ago and pitted government troops backed by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe against rebels supported by Uganda and Rwanda, quickly turning into one of Africa's deadliest conflicts ever.

But arms deliveries have continued, according to the United Nations, despite different ceasefires involving DRC, Uganda and Rwanda in 2002 and early 2003.

Rwanda is accused of providing weapons to the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), which was allied to Kigali and is now involved in the new interim government.

It is also accused of delivering weapons to the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an armed group active in the northeastern Ituri province.

Rwanda's goal is to "keep control of the Kivu provinces" in the east of the country on the border with Rwanda and "perhaps (to monitor) Ituri" in the northeast on the border with Uganda, the UN experts said.

Ituri is the only province where significant inter-ethnic violence continues, and a UN intervention force deployed beyond the provincial capital Bunia early last month to try to stop the bloodletting.

Networks close to members of the transitional institutions stemming from the pre-reunification government in Kinshasa supplied arms and ammunition to the Mai-Mai militias, they added.

The UN report accused Uganda of having provided arms to at least two militia in Ituri, essentially to protect its commercial interests.

In terms of its untapped mineral wealth, the DRC is one of the richest countries in the world, with its territory reputed to contain every mineral listed on the periodic table.

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031107193035.inkmglnu.html

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