Saleh, Kazini To Face UN Panel
Mar 16, 2003
ARMY Commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini (pictured) and Reserve Force Commander Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh are among the officials to face the UN Security Council panel of experts over their alleged exploitation of DR Congo’s natural resources.<br>
BY FELIX OSIKE
AND AGENCIES
ARMY Commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini (pictured) and Reserve Force Commander Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh are among the officials to face the UN Security Council panel of experts over their alleged exploitation of DR Congo’s natural resources.
They will appear before the reconstituted panel on March 24 in Nairobi, Kenya. The UN’s Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) reported Friday that the panel has already convened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
A Security Council Resolution states that individuals, companies and governments have until March 31 to post to it reactions to the panel’s last report. Others to be quizzed are military and government officials from countries involved in the DRC war.
In order to allow suspects to comment effectively on the findings, the panel will begin arranging meetings with these parties in Nairobi, from March 24 to 31.
The panel will brief the Security Council after three months of work and submit a report at the end of its mission to the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.
It will discuss the procedures for an exchange of information within two to three weeks of such meetings. “Those named will then have until late May to present their reactions which will be published as an attachment to the Panel’s last report by June 20, IRIN said.
The second Security Council report released in October last year blacklisted Saleh (pictured), Kazini, Col. Noble Mayombo, the chief of Military Intelligence, Col. Kahinda Otafiire, the Minister of State for Regional Co-operation over alleged exploitation of Congo’s natural resources.
The panel recommended travel bans, freezing of personal accounts and other sanctions as penalties for the officers and a moratorium ban for a specific period on the purchase of minerals, coffee and timber from the DRC.
A Justice David Porter report to Cabinet in February corroborated the UN’s findings. Ends
AND AGENCIES
ARMY Commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini (pictured) and Reserve Force Commander Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh are among the officials to face the UN Security Council panel of experts over their alleged exploitation of DR Congo’s natural resources.
They will appear before the reconstituted panel on March 24 in Nairobi, Kenya. The UN’s Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) reported Friday that the panel has already convened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
A Security Council Resolution states that individuals, companies and governments have until March 31 to post to it reactions to the panel’s last report. Others to be quizzed are military and government officials from countries involved in the DRC war.
In order to allow suspects to comment effectively on the findings, the panel will begin arranging meetings with these parties in Nairobi, from March 24 to 31.
The panel will brief the Security Council after three months of work and submit a report at the end of its mission to the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.
It will discuss the procedures for an exchange of information within two to three weeks of such meetings. “Those named will then have until late May to present their reactions which will be published as an attachment to the Panel’s last report by June 20, IRIN said.
The second Security Council report released in October last year blacklisted Saleh (pictured), Kazini, Col. Noble Mayombo, the chief of Military Intelligence, Col. Kahinda Otafiire, the Minister of State for Regional Co-operation over alleged exploitation of Congo’s natural resources.
The panel recommended travel bans, freezing of personal accounts and other sanctions as penalties for the officers and a moratorium ban for a specific period on the purchase of minerals, coffee and timber from the DRC.
A Justice David Porter report to Cabinet in February corroborated the UN’s findings. Ends