Text:
http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990418_feat3.html
Source App: [Uganda Accused Of Looting Congo - Netscape]
Uganda Accused Of Looting Congo
April 18, 1999
Kampala - Members of Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) and the Federation of
Congolese Industries (FEC) have accused Uganda's military and business community
of plundering their country through rampant smuggling and actions that keep the
Congo underdeveloped.
The pro RCD monthly newspaper based in Goma, Les Coulisses, of April 12, 1999 bitterly attacked the Ugandans saying "people who came as liberators are now massively looting and smuggling from Congo." The concern of the Congolese comes at a time when Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Civil Aviation Authority are also complaining to the Ministry of Defence over dubious deals between Uganda and DRC by army officers and their civilian collaborators.
Sources claimed that smuggling between Congo and Uganda became more rampant when a committee mobilising resources for the Congo operation ceased operating at the height of the conflicts between UPDF and RPA at the close of last year when the pro RPA The New Times of Rwanda attacked Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh saying he had reduced the UPDF in Congo into a thieving gang.
The sources claimed that after the collapse of the committee's work, individual officers continued doing business for their own profit. The committee which was reportedly chaired by Saleh, who has since left the army and the reserve force, also reportedly had Brig James Kazini, Col. Kale Kaihura and ESO agent Humphrey Babukika, as some of the members.
But Uganda military officials in Congo have dismissed the existence ever of such a committee and have said Saleh and Humphrey were operating their businesses in the Congo like any other businessmen and were not for raising funds for the UPDF operations. Saleh's Air Alexander remains the dominant transporter between Entebbe and Eastern Congo.
"If they had been fundraising then I wouldn't have missed my allowances from December to March," said a senior UPDF officer who has been in the Congo since October. "Our government went into this operation without securing funds for it. I wish there had been such a committee."
It was not possible to get a comment from Defense minister Stephen Kavuma who has reportedly been too busy the whole week and Gen. Odongo who has been outside the country. Gen. Saleh's line was engaged all the time when it was not in fax mode. In an angry commentary that that quoted sources in RCD's economic department, the monthly Les Coulisses paper said RCD rebels are powerless to condemn the looting and laments that the Ugandans are bent on taking unprocessed raw materials from Congo which ensures it does not develop industries.
It said items smuggled out of Congo are mostly coffee, timber and minerals -
gold and diamond. It said also petroleum products and sap from rubber trees are
illegally brought to Uganda.
Les Coulisses said the coffee is brought unprocessed, is not taxed and often disguised in plastic gunny bags as rice, maize or beans. It said timber and coffee are brought in military vehicles escorted and never checked. It said the local Congolese factories for coffee have been rendered useless as the Coffee that comes to Uganda is later exported as Ugandan products.
It said the rubber tree sap from Beni is processed in Kasese before export to USA and Europe, fraudulently marked as Ugandan products. Les Coulisses said most Ugandans deep in Congo, exploiting resources are not even registered and the few with any papers just carry short term visitors' passes. The paper observed that the smuggling is abated by "some stupid Congolese who do not have their country at heart." Les Coulisses identified smuggling outlets to Uganda as Kasenyi, Ariwara and Aru for products from Ituri region.
It said these later pass through Arua, Paidha and Pakwach. It said products from Beni/Butembo, Rutsuru/Kibirisi is passed through Kasindi,
Chavinonge and Kichumbi and added that Ugandan soldiers are camped in forests to log timber which they ferry to Uganda to the detriment of Congolese timber industry. Les Coulisses said the smugglers usually obtain diamond from Kisangani, gold from Uele in Ituri and wood from Kisangani.
UPDF officers however blamed the Rwanda Army for being behind the anti - Uganda
propaganda. They said Rwanda's intention is to have a puppet government in
Kinshasa so they can hunt down all the Hutus in Congo whom they all classify
wrongly as interahamwe.
Said the UPDF man: "Elements in the Rwandese army are now angry that Uganda has
helped the genuine Congo rebel leaders Jean Pierrre Bemba and Wamba dia Wamba
(who they thought was their creation) to unite. Uganda wants a strong Congolese
force that can control the territory so that Sudan and ADF do not use it to
attack us. The Rwandese are also scared that even the Congolese Banyamulenge now
hate them for isolating them from other Congolese for their bad behaviour."
He said a Rwandese officer called Roland recently raped a Congolese girl and was arrested by a Congolese Brigade Commander, only to be released by senior Rwandese officers. The UPDF man also blamed Rwanda for undermining stability in the liberated areas, citing an example when RCD Commander in Chief Wamba dia Wamba called a meeting of officer from the three countries, but only Uganda attended, with the Rwandese saying Wamba should go to them and the Congolese following the bad example.
"The Rwandese are just being a bad young brother who disturbs you knowing you wont beat him. They recently grabbed 615 diamond mines in an area controlled by UPDF from a Congolese national employing 3,000 people and gave them to a South African company which uses machines and will in fact be remitting huge sums of money to Kigali. The UPDF officers however ruled out any escalation of hostilities with Between UPDF and RPA."
The Officers however conceded that the smuggling of timber and coffee is going out of hand. At the border areas like Ariwara and Paidha, hordes of Congolese cross daily to Uganda to sell their products like coffee, cotton and timber.
And in a blatant abuse of the two country's authorities, untaxed petroleum products imported using Congolese documents enter Congo for a few moments and re -enter Uganda to be sold at about, 300% profit, with a litre of petrol in Arua costing between Sh800 and Sh900, rendering the normal petrol stations useless. But URA has said it is understaffed and ill-equipped to man border gateways and to stop rampant smuggling.
URA sources said it has only 100 uniformed Revenue Protection Service(RPS) officers to control all the borders and waters. Senior URA officials said the RPS is under-funded lacks marine boats and patrol vehicles. The URA sources admitted that the rate at which Ugandans are logging in forests inside Congo is alarming; the virgin forests there are being depleted at a fast and uncontrolled rate.
A less harmful side of the smuggling operates in the reverse direction, with several private-owned and army chartered planes are reportedly used for airlifting consumer goods to Kisangani, Bunia and Goma. There is a large UPDF presence in eastern DRC to defend the country's borders. Military flights to Congo therefore are not subject to customs scrutiny at Entebbe.
"Controlling the smuggling racket in Entebbe in hard because the loading and take off of such planes are often between 1.00 am and 5.00 am. Some of the 'goods suspected to be smuggled' are often classified as military cargo," URA sources said. URA officials say they are eyeing cadet officers recently recruited by the army who are undergoing training in Kabamba training wing to join RPS.
Sunday Vision has learnt that at the height of the smuggling racket in January, URA Commissioner General, Mr. Elly Rwakakooko wrote to the army asking them to allow commercial goods on their flights to be taxed. In a letter dated Jan. 25, 99 referenced URA/CG/50 to the army commander Maj. Gen. Jeje Odongo, Rwakakooko asked the army to cooperate in controlling the rampant smuggling. Rwakakooko copied his letter to the secretary for defence Dr. Ben Mbonye, secretary to the treasury Mr. Emmanuel Tumusime Mutebile and Commissioner of Customs and Excise Mr. Garshom Gayihura.
Rwakakoko's letter read in part, "In the interest of revenue collection, all merchandize should be subject to customs verifications. Whether export or re -export, goods should be lifted from the old Entebbe airport to the new Entebbe international airport for clearance,"
In reply, the army commander Maj. Gen. Odongo in a letter referenced UPDF/AC/552/A and dated February 16, 99, the army is taking all measures to see to it the law is not contravened.
"We understand your concern and we will take steps to see that the law is not contravened," the army commander said. Top military and security officers are reportedly meeting to draft measures to stop the army's involvement in the racket.
Last week, State minister for Defence Mr. Steven Kavuma said investigations were being conducted to catch culprits in the racket. Top military authorities contacted this week said several soldiers caught engaging in trade are arrested by the UPDF commanders in DRC, many others sent back to Uganda.
The deportees include Lt. Col. Nyakaitana. "Congolese know which troops are more disciplined on ground," said a top UPDF commander.
"Such propaganda cannot deter our motives. Ugandan traders come and buy goods on cash. This is not robbery or looting or smuggling. These traders often come with consumer goods like salt, Sugar, rice, as well as electronic goods and other products lacking in Congo. On return they buy Congolese products. The allegations in Les Coulisses are not a surprise because the paper has always been opposed to UPDF support for Jean-Pierre Bemba's Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) fighting in northern DRC. The paper represents the views of a section inside RCD leadership that relies on divisive politics and assumes that certain ethnic groups should have more control over RCD."