New York -- A member of both the United Nation Security Council’s original Congo panel and its new, reconstituted panel told The Monitor that both the original report and the recently released addendum were based on "credible and reliable reports, particularly with respect to Ugandan activity."

However, the panelist, Mel Holt of the United States, emphasized that the panel had no judiciary power with which to compel people to testify or produce documents. Therefore, Holt said, the panel’s standard of evidence was to report "what is reasonable, based on the information gathered, the assessed reliability of sources, the credibility of the information, and independent corroboration." This is a weaker standard of evidence than "beyond a reasonable doubt," the underlying principle of the U.S. justice system.

The Ugandan government has disputed details of the initial report, and some officials have claimed that the Security Council designated a new panel to follow up on the first panel’s report because it perceived that report was flawed. Holt denied that was the reason for appointing a new panel. Ambassador Mahmoud Kassem of Egypt chaired the new panel.

The panel’s first report, released in April, named President Yoweri Museveni, his brother Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh, other members of his family and several senior army officers in the exploitation of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s natural resources. The 37-page addendum, released Monday, named Museveni only as one of the Ugandan government officials who was interviewed for the report. However, it did name Saleh and Army Commander Lt. Gen. James Kazini.

The addendum also reported that diamonds, timber and other resources illegally extracted from the DRC were being smuggled through Uganda. And the addendum identified the UPDF culture as partially responsible for condoning resource exploitation in the DRC. "Influential [Ugandan] Government officials, military officers and businessmen continue to exploit the security situation for their vested commercial interests," according to the addendum. (See excerpts below).

Soon after the UN panel’s first report appeared, the Ugandan government tapped Justice David Porter of Britain to investigate the allegations contained in the report. His commission’s findings, released two weeks ago, exonerated top government officials, including Saleh.

"The Commission has found that the data it has reviewed from the panel’s findings cannot sustain the conclusion of illegal exploitation of the resources of Democratic Republic of Congo," the Porter Commission’s report concluded. Porter said the UN experts’ conclusions were "misconceived and unwarranted."

Saleh was prompted by the Porter report to explore the option of suing the UN. "A lawyer told me I could get a lot of money out of those guys," Saleh told Agence France-Presse two weeks ago.

"That’s fine," Holt said of Saleh’s intent to sue. "Anybody can sue anybody. He’s at liberty to look into it and make an inquiry into it. There is certainly no malice on anyone’s part. The panel is made up of people with integrity, selected for their ability to do the job. The fact that we’re a UN panel imputes a certain integrity to the panel."

Holt explained that there are discrepancies between the Porter report and his panel’s findings because they were based on different investigations operating with a different set of information. "The Porter commission went out and did its job to the best of its ability, given the tools it had to use," Holt said. "How they did it, and the conclusions they drew, are based on information we don’t have access to. Certainly the government of Uganda made a reasonable attempt, at least on the surface, to make every effort to try to determine the nature and extent of some of the exploitation allegations."

Justice Porter has long complained that the UN panel would not release its sources to his commission. After the release of the panel’s addendum, Porter told New Vision he has asked the UN to provide him with proof of the allegations made in the report against UPDF officers. ""We have also asked for documents and other leads from their original report but we have not received any assistance," Porter said.
Holt explained that it is the nature of investigations to have "a certain amount of privacy," to protect sources. He said his panel had met twice with the Porter Commission, and that he was open to the idea of establishing a mechanism for the sharing of information. However, he said without such a mechanism, it would not be possible for the UN panel to share information. "Certainly in our case, approvals have to come from UN headquarters in New York," Holt said. "We are not going to make an impulsive decision to share information."

Holt suggested that the Ugandan mission to the UN might petition for the creation of an approval authority to expedite the sharing of information between his panel and the Porter Commission.

Holt commended Uganda for cooperating fully with the UN investigation. "The Ugandan government was very very cooperative," Holt said. "They made their different organizations accessible, they went out of their way to do everything they could to respond to our inquiries, and they provided documentation as well as verbal information."

In the addendum, the panel commends the governments of Burundi, Namibia and Uganda for their cooperation, and, conversely, expresses disappointment at "the lack of adequate cooperation" from the governments of South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The addendum lists 10 Ugandan government officials who were interviewed, including Kazini. Saleh, now retired, also granted an interview to the panel.

Holt could not say if the panel would continue to function, and, if so, what its next activity would be.

Here are excerpts of the UN panel’s addendum concerning the role of some Ugandans in the DRC:

--Diamonds: "Diamonds from artisanal mining in the northern Kisangani area have provided a source of revenue for the rebels, RPA and UPDF for the continuation of the conflict. The high combined taxes imposed by the RCD-Goma rebel group and RPA ultimately resulted in diamonds mined in this area being redirected to Kampala, where lower tax rates prevail. Data on Ugandan diamond exports confirm this. From 1987 to 1996, no diamond exports from Uganda were recorded for this market. From 1997 to 2000, exports from Uganda ranged from 2,000 to 11,000 carats, with values of up to $1.7 million per year. Figures for 2001, extrapolated from the sales for the first eight months, show an estimated 35,000 carats, valued at $3.8 million, in Ugandan diamond exports to Antwerp."

--Timber: "Information provided to the Panel proves however that timber processed at Mangina (North Kivu) transits through Uganda on its way to Mombasa, transported by the freight company TMK."

--"While the effect of the Panel’s report and the significant withdrawal of UPDF troops have given the impression that the exploitation activities have been reduced, they are in fact continuing. The commercial networks put in place by Ugandan army commanders and their civilian counterparts that were described in the report are still functioning in Oriental Province and Kampala. The Trinity and Victoria companies, for example, are still actively exploiting diamonds, gold, coffee and timber. UPDF have thus been able to pull out their troops, while leaving behind structures that permit military officers and associates, including rebel leaders, to continue profiting."

--UPDF: "While the Government of Uganda does not participate directly in the exploitation activities, the culture in which its military personnel function tolerates and condones their activities. The commercial activities of senior UPDF officers are public knowledge. In an interview with the Panel in August 2001, the now retired General Salim Saleh admitted that, while never having been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of his companies had been engaged in exporting merchandise to the eastern part of the country. He noted that the aircraft transporting the merchandise was initially confiscated by General James Kazini. General Kazini, who also participated in the interview, in turn described his role in facilitating the transport of Ugandan merchandise to Kisangani and other areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In full control of the areas under their administration, General Kazini and others used this power, as they would have done elsewhere, to establish a mechanism to promote their business interests. The characteristics of the area under their control predominantly determine the kind of exploitation activities carried out by UPDF personnel.

"The Panel has noted that the UPDF officers usually conduct their business through a Congolese affiliate, on whom they bestow power and support. This was the case with Jean-Pierre Bemba, Adele Lotsove and, more recently, Roger Lumbala of the now defunct RCD-National, as well as Mbusa Nyamwisi. Sources have informed the Panel that RCD-National was formed by General Kazini in 2000 from RCD-Goma defectors, who gave them Bafwasende as their base. More recently, the Panel learned that Mr. Lumbala had signed two commercial agreements bearing the signatures of UPDF Commander Kahinda Otafire and Belgian and Austrian parties. In addition, the Panel has learned that, late in December 2000, Lumbala - who is reportedly a front for the monopoly of the Victoria company on the Bafwasende diamonds - was in Kampala delivering diamonds to what the sources termed his "masters". Another activity UPDF officers are involved in is the liberal siphoning off of the customs revenues on the illicit trade between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. A very credible source informed the Panel in that regard that Mr. Nyamwisi "skims" up to $400,000 off the tax revenues collected from the Beni customs post at the Uganda border. According to the same source, Mr. Nyamwisi shares this money with General Kazini and General Salim Saleh."

--Continuation of Conflict: "There is a link between the continuation of the conflict and the exploitation of the natural resources, in the case of Uganda. Influential Government officials, military officers and businessmen continue to exploit the security situation for their vested commercial interests."