allesennogwat
07-14-2007, 12:45 AM
By EDDY ISANGO, Associated Press
U.N. opens Congo gold-trafficking probe
KINSHASA, Congo - The investigative arm of the U.N. mission in Congo has opened an inquiry into allegations that Indian peacekeepers serving in this central African nation are illicitly trafficking in gold, a spokesman said Friday.
The probe is focusing on an Indian unit stationed in the eastern province of North Kivu near the Rwandan border, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The announcement came as the U.N. peacekeeping chief in New York, Jean-Marie Guehenno, discussed a similar but separate inquiry in Congo involving charges of gun and gold smuggling. He said it found no evidence of arms smuggling but pointed to the possibility that a Pakistani peacekeeper "may have facilitated gold smuggling."
He also said the United Nations was sending a management audit team to Congo immediately "to obtain a full picture of various recent allegations of serious misconduct against U.N. personnel" serving with the peacekeeping force.
Congo's eastern region has been among the huge nation's most unstable areas, with routine attacks on villages by Rwandan rebels who were forced out of their own country following the 1994 genocide there.
Another U.N. official in Congo, who agreed to discuss the Indian case only if not quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Indian peacekeepers in eastern Congo have been trading U.N. rations for gold with the Rwandan rebels.
Among the rebels involved are members of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, composed largely of the extremist Hutu militia that led a 100-day slaughter of more than a half-million people in Rwanda 13 years ago.
The gold trafficking has been conducted in Nyabiondo, a village some 700 miles east of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, the official said.
U.N. peacekeepers helped end the 1998-2002 war in Congo that engulfed six neighboring countries. The nearly 18,000-strong mission in Congo is the United Nations' largest peacekeeping operation.
Guehenno said the management team would leave for Congo this weekend. "We want to react fast. We think that problems are better addressed when they are addressed quickly," he said.
Congo, a country the size of western Europe, held its first democratic elections in more than four decades last fall after a long dictatorship and years of civil war.
Although it has made strides toward democracy, the newly elected government is struggling to impose control over far-flung frontier regions in a heavily forested nation that is rich in gold, diamonds and cobalt.
U.N. opens Congo gold-trafficking probe
KINSHASA, Congo - The investigative arm of the U.N. mission in Congo has opened an inquiry into allegations that Indian peacekeepers serving in this central African nation are illicitly trafficking in gold, a spokesman said Friday.
The probe is focusing on an Indian unit stationed in the eastern province of North Kivu near the Rwandan border, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The announcement came as the U.N. peacekeeping chief in New York, Jean-Marie Guehenno, discussed a similar but separate inquiry in Congo involving charges of gun and gold smuggling. He said it found no evidence of arms smuggling but pointed to the possibility that a Pakistani peacekeeper "may have facilitated gold smuggling."
He also said the United Nations was sending a management audit team to Congo immediately "to obtain a full picture of various recent allegations of serious misconduct against U.N. personnel" serving with the peacekeeping force.
Congo's eastern region has been among the huge nation's most unstable areas, with routine attacks on villages by Rwandan rebels who were forced out of their own country following the 1994 genocide there.
Another U.N. official in Congo, who agreed to discuss the Indian case only if not quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Indian peacekeepers in eastern Congo have been trading U.N. rations for gold with the Rwandan rebels.
Among the rebels involved are members of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, composed largely of the extremist Hutu militia that led a 100-day slaughter of more than a half-million people in Rwanda 13 years ago.
The gold trafficking has been conducted in Nyabiondo, a village some 700 miles east of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, the official said.
U.N. peacekeepers helped end the 1998-2002 war in Congo that engulfed six neighboring countries. The nearly 18,000-strong mission in Congo is the United Nations' largest peacekeeping operation.
Guehenno said the management team would leave for Congo this weekend. "We want to react fast. We think that problems are better addressed when they are addressed quickly," he said.
Congo, a country the size of western Europe, held its first democratic elections in more than four decades last fall after a long dictatorship and years of civil war.
Although it has made strides toward democracy, the newly elected government is struggling to impose control over far-flung frontier regions in a heavily forested nation that is rich in gold, diamonds and cobalt.