indian army accused of gold smuggling in congo

[RAAWI]

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/wo...539291&k=89714
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/...?section=world

Indian peacekeepers in Congo accused of gold trafficking

KINSHASA: Indian UN peacekeepers have been accused of gold trafficking with Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to UN documents and witnesses.

The UN soldiers serving in the Congo-Kinshasa had allegedly exchanged food and information for gold and dollars for several months in 2005 and 2006, officials from the UN mission in DRC, who wished to remain unnamed, said.

The exchange took place with rebels of the chiefly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), they said. The Indian troops of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Mission de l’ Organisation des Nations Unies en République démocratique du Congo, or MONUC) in Nord-Kivu province were based at Nyabiondo, more than 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of the provincial capital, Goma.

MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki said on Friday that the UN’s internal investigation department, based in Nairobi, had opened an inquiry as soon as the mission had been made aware of allegations concerning gold trafficking. He was however unable to say when the investigation had begun or what period it covered.

Sources cited a confidential note dated July 2006 to one of MONUC’s senior officials in saying that a mission official had recommended that a senior Indian officer be immediately sent back to New Delhi. “Serious allegations have been made” against the officer, “to the effect that he and other Indian officers acting under his instructions have been trading in gold,” the note stated. It said that “troops from the North Kivu Brigade have sold their rations, reportedly for gold”, adding that “the rations have come on sale in the market at Nyabiondo”.

A spokesman for the Indian defence ministry refused to comment on Friday but a top army official in New Delhi said, “The military establishment is checking the veracity of the charges with the concerned authorities in the UN.”

FDLR officers described close links in the summer of 2006 between FDLR commanders and UN peacekeepers at Nyabiondo, who told them about anti-rebel operations beforehand.

A rebel officer said a military operation by MONUC-backed Congolese army forces against the rebels, which took place in the Virunga Park area in October 2005, had no impact because “the FDLR was informed about the exact time and location of the operation 10 days in advance”. Pakistani UN troops based in the northeastern Ituri area in 2005 have been embroiled in similar allegations of trading in gold and guns with Congolese militia they were meant to be disarming.

In May, the commander of the Pakistani contingent dismissed the allegations as “preposterous, malicious and baseless”. Referring to the allegations Ambassador Akram said that its findings might indicate, “at best an error of judgement” with regard to dealing with some questionable business people.

According to media reports the DRC businessmen were of Indian origin. Pakistan, he said, will conduct its own investigation and will take appropriate action if any wrongdoing was confirmed. agencies

[Vinay]

links are not working

[Arjun]

Someone made an accusation on Indian peacekeepers on behalf of the real thieves. Now that a Pakistani peacekeeper has been charged for smuggling gold.

Peacekeeper 'smuggled Congo gold'
http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=14970

A United Nations inquiry has confirmed that a Pakistani peacekeeper in the Democratic Republic of Congo was involved in smuggling gold.
A Pakistani contingent was accused of selling gold and guns between 2005 and 2006 to Congolese militia groups they were meant to disarm.

The investigation, which began in early 2006, found no evidence of gun-running.

Pakistani officials have previously denied all the accusations, describing the allegations as "baseless".

In May the UN said it would seek to discipline anyone who had compromised peacekeeping in DR Congo by trafficking in gold or guns.

Now the head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, has told the BBC: "The investigation has found no evidence of gun smuggling but it has identified an individual who seems to have facilitated gold smuggling.

"We have shared the report with the concerned troop contributor and I'm confident they will take the required action. This issue is closed."

'Overstretched'

This is the latest in a series of scandals involving UN peacekeepers.

Mr Guehenno said he thought UN peacekeeping was overstretched, with 100,000 peacekeepers in the field but a support staff of just 1,000 at headquarters.

That was a factor in continuing problems with discipline, he added.

The BBC's UN correspondent, Laura Trevelyan, says that although the UN can send misbehaving peacekeepers home, the countries that provide the troops are responsible for their conduct.

The Pakistani battalion at the centre of the claims was based in and around the mining town of Mongbwalu, in the north-east of the country, in 2005.

They helped bring peace to an area that had previously seen bitter fighting between the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups.

But witnesses said Pakistani officers had also supplied weapons to notorious militia commanders in return for gold.

As the trade developed, the officers brought in the Congolese army and then Indian traders from Kenya.

The UN began a major investigation after being alerted by Human Rights Watch in late 2005.

A UN official connected with the inquiry has previously told the BBC there seemed to have been a plan to bury the results, in order to avoid alienating Pakistan - the largest contributor of troops to the UN.

[Arjun]

Adminstrator can renamed the thread as Pakistani charged for smuggling gold in Congo.

[RAAWI]

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=addd8e9c-7cd0-40bf-8c3b-61c31e539291&k=89714

[RAAWI]

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/14/1978506.htm?section=world


and vinay u forget that this news taken by monuc through BBc.
Peacekeeper 'smuggled Congo gold'
BBC News
13 jul. 07 - 12.25h

this is only my point is why BBc is always after fishy stories.

[RAAWI]

KINSHASA, July 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations is investigating allegations that Indian peacekeepers in Congo traded food and even military intelligence with Rwandan Hutu rebels in return for gold, U.N. officials said on Friday.

The investigation is one of a series, including a probe authorized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, into the 17,000-strong U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The operation is credited with organizing the country's first democratic polls in 40 years but tarnished by allegations ranging from sexual abuse to killings.

Kemal Saiki, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo, confirmed media reports of the allegations made against Indian peacekeepers in eastern Congo's troubled North Kivu province.

"We acknowledge there were accusations. Following these allegations, our procedures kicked in and an investigation by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was launched," he said, in reference to the U.N. watchdog in New York.

Rights campaigners expressed concern the scandals could damage the reputation of U.N. peacekeeping missions. Human Rights Watch has accused the United Nations of stalling on earlier investigations, involving Pakistani troops.

In New York, Ban announced that the peacekeeping department was sending a "management audit team" to Kinshasa "to obtain a full picture of various recent allegations of serious misconduct against U.N. personnel."

According to Jean-Marie Guehenno, the head of U.N. peacekeeping, "The management team will look at why these issues surfaced, what could be done to strengthen the management of (the mission) to be more pro-active on these things," while the OIOS would investigate the actual allegations.

Despite last year's historic polls, the vast, mineral-rich Central African country still suffers from violence at the hands of armed militias, foreign rebel groups, and its own army, particularly in the east.

Large areas of North Kivu along the border with neighbouring Rwanda are under the control of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu-dominated rebel movement.

The FDLR is composed in part of former Interahamwe militia who fled to Congo after taking part in the genocide in Rwanda that killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994.

In Congo, they are accused of grave human rights abuses in areas under their control, and recent fighting between the foreign rebels and Tutsi-dominated Congolese army brigades have driven more than 165,000 people from their homes since February, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

PAST ALLEGATIONS

Earlier this month, an OIOS report on similar allegations against Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo's northeastern Ituri district found the troops had indeed colluded with a local armed group to smuggle gold out of the country.

Another investigation into the alleged torture and killings of Ituri militia members by Bangladeshi U.N. soldiers is currently under way.

Punishment of peacekeepers found to have committed crimes while serving with the United Nations is left at the discretion of their home countries. Human rights campaigners say national armies have a poor record of disciplining their troops.

Anneke Van Woudenberg, a Congo researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch, said that while she could not confirm the latest allegations of misconduct, ongoing abuses in Congo were hurting U.N. efforts worldwide.

"These guys should be held up to the highest standards, if international peacekeeping is to work," she said.

http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=14979

[RAAWI]

UN to probe alleged peacekeeper misconduct in DRCongo
AFP
14 jul. 07 - 15.53h
UNITED NATIONS, July 13, 2007 (AFP) - The United Nations on Friday said it was rushing an audit team to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to probe recent allegations of gold trafficking by some of its peacekeepers there.

Indian UN blue helmets have been accused of trafficking in gold with rebels of the chiefly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in eastern DRC, according to UN documents and witnesses.

And Pakistani UN troops based in the northeastern Ituri area in 2005 have been embroiled in similar allegations of trading in gold and guns with Congolese militia they were meant to be disarming.

UN Under Secretary General for peacekeeping operations (DPKO) Jean-Marie Guehenno said the world body decided to send a management audit team to DRC this weekend, "in light of a series of recent allegations of misconduct by elements serving with MONUC (the UN mission in the DRC)."

The team will work with all levels of MONUC to get a full picture of the various allegations and will "evaluate management processes related to the maintenance of good order and discipline in the mission," a UN statement said.

The team will then make recommendations to UN headquarters on how to strengthen management on the issue.

On the specific allegations against the Indian peacekeepers, Guehenno said that he could not comment as an investigation was under way.

"We are taking measures to get to the bottom of this case," he told AFP.

A spokesman for the Indian defense ministry declined to comment on Friday but a top army official in New Delhi said "the military establishment is checking the veracity of the charges with the concerned authorities in the UN."

There are currently some 17,600 MONUC peacekeepers in DRC -- the UN's largest mission -- overseeing the transition from a devastating civil war in which millions died.
http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=14978

[Arjun]

Allegations can be made by any irresponsible fellow. The U.N the has to investigate. Let them do it. They will come clean. It's the duty of Pakistan to allege against Indians that's what Pakistan was formed for.

Now in the case of Pakistan they were found to be smuggling gold and charged for the crime.

[RAAWI]

Denial Denial Denial.........................

[Vinay]

which allegation came thru first?
the Pak one or the Ind one???

If it was Pak first, it would have been just a baseless allegation by a pro pak guy to deflect the shame


If it was Ind first, it would have been just a baseless allegation by a pro Ind guy to deflect the shame

[RAAWI]

what a justification man hahahaa. when u quote this from same website it is news when i quoted same web site it is baseless allegation.

and you know what only BBC quoted and web site of MONUC also quoted from BBC about Pakistan.

lollllllllllllllsssssssssss

regards

[Arjun]

Need brain. Cannot comprehend properly. In India's case it is allegation. In the case of Pak peacekeeper the allegation is found to be true and charged.

[Arjun]

which allegation came thru first?
the Pak one or the Ind one???

If it was Pak first, it would have been just a baseless allegation by a pro pak guy to deflect the shame


If it was Ind first, it would have been just a baseless allegation by a pro Ind guy to deflect the shame

:roflmao3:

Vinay you are a funny guy. I liked it.