Brigadier Kazini Denies Congo Looting

By Alfred Wasike and Anne Mugisa The Army Chief of Staff, Brig. James Kazini, yesterday swore that he had never seen gold, diamonds, coltan or other minerals allegedly looted by the Ugandan military "since business in those item is secret." Kazini, the UPDF Chief of Staff, who was the in-charge of Operation Safe Haven (OSH), dismissed the UN panel report as false and denied allegations that top army officers were involved in trading in the Democratic Republic of Congo's natural resources. Kazini, who appeared before the Justice Porter Commission, said the UPDF went to Congo to "fight the ADF, West Nile Bank Front, Interahamwe and other elements who wanted to disorganise Uganda." Earlier, former state minister for defence Steven Kavuma said the UN appealed to President Yoweri Museveni not to pull out of the 1998 Lusaka Peace Accord. The accord was signed by belligerents for a cease-fire in the war-torn Congo. Kavuma yesterday told the commission that UN Secretary General Koffi Annan appealed to Museveni requesting him not to pull out. Kavuma said Museveni had been irked by the report, which accused Uganda of plundering wealth in Congo. Kavuma said, "Shortly after the report of the UN experts, as soon as we had announced that we totally wanted to pull put of the whole arrangement of Lusaka and our troops out of the Congo, a number of appeals came in. The Secretary General wrote to His Excellency begging Uganda to stay," Kavuma said, adding that Museveni had the letter. In his testimony, Kazini, accompanied by a UPDF lawyer, Captain Kanyogonya, said a number of UPDF soldiers who committed crimes and misbehaved in Congo were arrested and detained at Makindye Barracks in Kampala and prosecuted. Explaining the causes of the clashes between the UPDF and the Rwandan Patriotic Army, he said, "They were sparked off by our attempts to protect a Congolese rebel leader Wamba dia Wamba." He denied the UN panel report, which claimed that the Kisangani battles were triggered off by Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh's wife, Jovia, who wanted to control the diamond market in Kisangani. He also refuted the report's allegations that spouses of army officers traded in minerals. He said Uganda sent troops into the DRC in 1996 to repulse the ADF who had attacked Mpondwe border post and OSH was launched on August 8, 1998 after the capture of Beni because "there was need to change our operational plan since the earlier plan included the UPDF and Kabila's army (FAC) but now anti-Kabila rebels were capturing territory." Kazini said he served in the Congo from August 1998 to May 2000 and never saw Ugandans dealing in timber. "Timber is bulky. But I saw some Ugandans like Ugacof, a certain Hajji, dealt directly in coffee with rebels like Bemba." He repeatedly denied allegations by the UN report that Uganda was involved in the direct administration of the Ugandan-backed-rebel-captured areas. "There was an isolated incident in Ituri Province where I appointed Adele Losobe provisional Governor of Ituri Province because there was a vacuum there." Kazini also denied allegations by the UN report that he appointed Adele Losobe to "facilitate and take care of business ventures owned by Kazini and other top Ugandan military officers serving in the DRC." Ends