| Chers compatriotes, L'Ouganda et le Rwanda sont en train de piller alors je dis bien
piller tres serieusement notre pays. Meme les congolais du RCD commencent a ne plus
accepter ce genre de pillage tellement ce depasse les limites du supportable. Voici ici un
article publie par Africanews
Uganda Accused Of Looting Congo
April 18, 1999
Kampala - Members of Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)
and the Federation of Congolese Industries (FEC) have accused Uganda's military and
business community of plundering their country through rampant smuggling and actions that
keep the Congo underdeveloped.
The pro RCD monthly newspaper based in Goma, Les
Coulisses, of April 12, 1999 bitterly attacked the Ugandans saying "people who came
as liberators are now massively looting and smuggling from Congo." The concern of the
Congolese comes at a time when Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Civil Aviation Authority
are also complaining to the Ministry of Defence over dubious deals between Uganda and DRC
by army officers and their civilian collaborators.
Sources claimed that smuggling between Congo and Uganda
became more rampant when a committee mobilising resources for the Congo operation ceased
operating at the height of the conflicts between UPDF and RPA at the close of last year
when the pro RPA The New Times of Rwanda attacked Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh saying he had
reduced the UPDF in Congo into a thieving gang.
The sources claimed that after the collapse of the
committee's work, individual officers continued doing business for their own profit. The
committee which was reportedly chaired by Saleh, who has since left the army and the
reserve force, also reportedly had Brig James Kazini, Col. Kale Kaihura and ESO agent
Humphrey Babukika, as some of the members.
But Uganda military officials in Congo have dismissed the
existence ever of such a committee and have said Saleh and Humphrey were operating their
businesses in the Congo like any other businessmen and were not for raising funds for the
UPDF operations. Saleh's Air Alexander remains the dominant transporter between Entebbe
and Eastern Congo.
"If they had been fundraising then I wouldn't have
missed my allowances from December to March," said a senior UPDF officer who has been
in the Congo since October. "Our government went into this operation without securing
funds for it. I wish there had been such a committee."
It was not possible to get a comment from Defense minister
Stephen Kavuma who has reportedly been too busy the whole week and Gen. Odongo who has
been outside the country. Gen. Saleh's line was engaged all the time when it was not in
fax mode. In an angry commentary that that quoted sources in RCD's economic department,
the monthly Les Coulisses paper said RCD rebels are powerless to condemn the looting and
laments that the Ugandans are bent on taking unprocessed raw materials from Congo which
ensures it does not develop industries.
It said items smuggled out of Congo are mostly coffee,
timber and minerals - gold and diamond. It said also petroleum products and sap from
rubber trees are illegally brought to Uganda.
Les Coulisses said the coffee is brought unprocessed, is
not taxed and often disguised in plastic gunny bags as rice, maize or beans. It said
timber and coffee are brought in military vehicles escorted and never checked. It said the
local Congolese factories for coffee have been rendered useless as the Coffee that comes
to Uganda is later exported as Ugandan products.
It said the rubber tree sap from Beni is processed in
Kasese before export to USA and Europe, fraudulently marked as Ugandan products. Les
Coulisses said most Ugandans deep in Congo, exploiting resources are not even registered
and the few with any papers just carry short term visitors' passes. The paper observed
that the smuggling is abated by "some stupid Congolese who do not have their country
at heart." Les Coulisses identified smuggling outlets to Uganda as Kasenyi, Ariwara
and Aru for products from Ituri region.
It said these later pass through Arua, Paidha and Pakwach.
It said products from Beni/Butembo, Rutsuru/Kibirisi is passed through Kasindi,
Chavinonge and Kichumbi and added that Ugandan soldiers
are camped in forests to log timber which they ferry to Uganda to the detriment of
Congolese timber industry. Les Coulisses said the smugglers usually obtain diamond from
Kisangani, gold from Uele in Ituri and wood from Kisangani.
UPDF officers however blamed the Rwanda Army for being
behind the anti - Uganda propaganda. They said Rwanda's intention is to have a puppet
government in Kinshasa so they can hunt down all the Hutus in Congo whom they all classify
wrongly as interahamwe.
Said the UPDF man: "Elements in the Rwandese army are
now angry that Uganda has helped the genuine Congo rebel leaders Jean Pierrre Bemba and
Wamba dia Wamba (who they thought was their creation) to unite. Uganda wants a strong
Congolese force that can control the territory so that Sudan and ADF do not use it to
attack us. The Rwandese are also scared that even the Congolese Banyamulenge now hate them
for isolating them from other Congolese for their bad behaviour."
He said a Rwandese officer called Roland recently raped a
Congolese girl and was arrested by a Congolese Brigade Commander, only to be released by
senior Rwandese officers. The UPDF man also blamed Rwanda for undermining stability in the
liberated areas, citing an example when RCD Commander in Chief Wamba dia Wamba called a
meeting of officer from the three countries, but only Uganda attended, with the Rwandese
saying Wamba should go to them and the Congolese following the bad example.
"The Rwandese are just being a bad young brother who
disturbs you knowing you wont beat him. They recently grabbed 615 diamond mines in an area
controlled by UPDF from a Congolese national employing 3,000 people and gave them to a
South African company which uses machines and will in fact be remitting huge sums of money
to Kigali. The UPDF officers however ruled out any escalation of hostilities with Between
UPDF and RPA."
The Officers however conceded that the smuggling of timber
and coffee is going out of hand. At the border areas like Ariwara and Paidha, hordes of
Congolese cross daily to Uganda to sell their products like coffee, cotton and timber.
And in a blatant abuse of the two country's authorities,
untaxed petroleum products imported using Congolese documents enter Congo for a few
moments and re-enter Uganda to be sold at about, 300% profit, with a litre of petrol in
Arua costing between Sh800 and Sh900, rendering the normal petrol stations useless. But
URA has said it is understaffed and ill-equipped to man border gateways and to stop
rampant smuggling.
URA sources said it has only 100 uniformed Revenue
Protection Service(RPS) officers to control all the borders and waters. Senior URA
officials said the RPS is under-funded lacks marine boats and patrol vehicles. The URA
sources admitted that the rate at which Ugandans are logging in forests inside Congo is
alarming; the virgin forests there are being depleted at a fast and uncontrolled rate.
A less harmful side of the smuggling operates in the
reverse direction, with several private-owned and army chartered planes are reportedly
used for airlifting consumer goods to Kisangani, Bunia and Goma. There is a large UPDF
presence in eastern DRC to defend the country's borders. Military flights to Congo
therefore are not subject to customs scrutiny at Entebbe.
"Controlling the smuggling racket in Entebbe in hard
because the loading and take off of such planes are often between 1.00 am and 5.00 am.
Some of the 'goods suspected to be smuggled' are often classified as military cargo,"
URA sources said. URA officials say they are eyeing cadet officers recently recruited by
the army who are undergoing training in Kabamba training wing to join RPS.
Sunday Vision has learnt that at the height of the
smuggling racket in January, URA Commissioner General, Mr. Elly Rwakakooko wrote to the
army asking them to allow commercial goods on their flights to be taxed. In a letter dated
Jan. 25, 99 referenced URA/CG/50 to the army commander Maj. Gen. Jeje Odongo, Rwakakooko
asked the army to cooperate in controlling the rampant smuggling. Rwakakooko copied his
letter to the secretary for defence Dr. Ben Mbonye, secretary to the treasury Mr. Emmanuel
Tumusime Mutebile and Commissioner of Customs and Excise Mr. Garshom Gayihura.
Rwakakoko's letter read in part, "In the interest of
revenue collection, all merchandize should be subject to customs verifications. Whether
export or re-export, goods should be lifted from the old Entebbe airport to the new
Entebbe international airport for clearance,"
In reply, the army commander Maj. Gen. Odongo in a letter
referenced UPDF/AC/552/A and dated February 16, 99, the army is taking all measures to see
to it the law is not contravened.
"We understand your concern and we will take steps to
see that the law is not contravened," the army commander said. Top military and
security officers are reportedly meeting to draft measures to stop the army's involvement
in the racket.
Last week, State minister for Defence Mr. Steven Kavuma
said investigations were being conducted to catch culprits in the racket. Top military
authorities contacted this week said several soldiers caught engaging in trade are
arrested by the UPDF commanders in DRC, many others sent back to Uganda.
The deportees include Lt. Col. Nyakaitana. "Congolese
know which troops are more disciplined on ground," said a top UPDF commander.
"Such propaganda cannot deter our motives. Ugandan
traders come and buy goods on cash. This is not robbery or looting or smuggling. These
traders often come with consumer goods like salt, Sugar, rice, as well as electronic goods
and other products lacking in Congo. On return they buy Congolese products. The
allegations in Les Coulisses are not a surprise because the paper has always been opposed
to UPDF support for Jean-Pierre Bemba's Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) fighting in
northern DRC. The paper represents the views of a section inside RCD leadership that
relies on divisive politics and assumes that certain ethnic groups should have more
control over RCD."
Paul Kadima |
