Publication date: Tuesday, 17th November, 2009
By Vision reporter
and Agencies
ABOUT 40 tonnes of gold is smuggled annually out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, most of it shipped to Dubai via Uganda, a UN official in charge of the arms embargo has told the BBC.
The official, Dino Mahtani, said most of the gold was controlled by rebel groups, who use the proceeds to buy arms.
Mahtani, who is due to report to a meeting of the UN Security Council this week, said: “This money helps sustain them (the armed groups) in the field. Most gold is shipped to Dubai via Uganda.”
Mahtani, who co-ordinates the UN arms embargo experts, quoted from a Congolese Senate report which talked of roughly $1.24b (sh2.3 trillion) worth of gold, or 40 tonnes, smuggled out every year “without any customs declaration”.
He said the profits of the illicit trade go back to the armed groups.
“A lot of this gold is controlled by armed networks, in particular the FDLR, which is a Rwandan-based rebel group partly composed by members who were involved in the 1994 genocide and who continue to operate in eastern Congo.”
He added that the trade is one of the most significant avenues of direct finance for the armed groups.
Uganda is a key conduit from Congo to the world market in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the BBC said.
Between 1995 and 2006, gold was among Uganda’s top three export products.
According to the Uganda Export Promotion Board, the country exported a total of $342m worth of gold between 2003 and 2008.
A record $122.6m worth of gold and gold compounds was exported in 2006.
Statistics from the energy and mineral ministry says Uganda mines only 3kg of gold a year.
The UN Security Council has had an arms embargo in place in the DRC for six years following the peace accord between the government and armed groups.
Sanctions were applied to two gold-trading companies that operated out of Uganda, but UN investigators say it would be “quite easy” for people to evade the sanctions because they apply only to the companies and not to named individuals.
Mahtani is this week to present evidence from travel documents, phone records and customs certificates to the Security Council, outlining how Congo’s gold is traded.
“When you place companies on a sanctions list and you don’t sanction directors of those companies, then it’s easy for them to simply change behaviour, set up new front companies and carry on operating.”
The UN Security Council will have to decide whether to impose further sanctions.
This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/701473
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