Mrs Saleh Denies Sparking Off Kisangani Fighting

By Milton Olupot and Anne Mugisa MRS. Jovial Akandwanaho (Salim Saleh’s wife) yesterday denied a UN panel report that she caused the clashes between Ugandan and Rwandan armies in Kisangani in 1999. Jovial, who was testifying before the Porter commission on DR Congo, said it was unfair for the panel to drag her name into the Congo issues. “I do not have the capacity to command even a platoon. That is very wrong,” Jovial, who was accompanied to the commission by Saleh and lawyers, said. The panel accused Jovial, Saleh, President Museveni’s son, Lt Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and Uganda generally of plundering Congo’s natural resources. Jovial said the panel did not interview her during their probe. Another witness, Grace Majoro, a businesswoman, said her company was sometimes hired by Congolese RCD rebels to transport food from Uganda. She said the company, GCK Enterprises Ltd, used a Russian Illyushin-76 plane they chartered from a Kenyan company. Majoro said she ventured into the eastern DR Congo in 1998 to supply essential commodities including sugar, salt, medical drugs and fuel. She said she used to barter some goods for timber, which she would fly back to Uganda and then ship to the US. Majoro said they got the timber from the largest Congolese timber factory in Kisangani, Amex Bois. She said her company used the Entebbe airbase to fly and paid the Civil Aviation Authority. She said they were allowed to use the airbase by the then Defence Permanent Secretary, Dr. Ben Mbonye. Asked about her minor son being director in Air Alexander, Jovial said when she bought the shares from her husband, Alexander was already a director. “How do you conduct your annual general meetings, and how did you make company resolutions?” Porter asked. “How can you conduct a meeting with a ten year-old boy, you cannot say you were meeting the lawyers because they were not part of your Board of Directors,” Justice Joseph Berko said. Jovial said she used to make decisions in the company with the help of the former Managing Director, Agard Didi, and the company lawyers. She admitted that Air Alexander flew Boeing planes when it was only licensed to use helicopters. Ends