DRC-UGANDA: General testifies before DRC exploitation commission

NAIROBI, 21 May (IRIN) - Facing threats of arrest, the Ugandan acting army
commander, Maj-Gen James Kazini, testified on Monday before a six-member
judicial commission set up by the government to investigate allegations of
the nation's involvement in the illegal exploitation of natural resources of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the commission's chairman,
Justice David Porter, a British expatriate, told IRIN on Tuesday.

Although Kazini made no startling revelations, Porter admonished him for
having been caught telling "at least 10 lies" to the commission in the
course of his testimony on Monday. [A transcript of Kazini's testimony can
be found on the website of The New Vision Ugandan government-owned daily
newspaper at http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?story=42143]

The commission had sought Kazini's testimony regarding United Nations
allegations that he plundered resources of the DRC when he was commanding
the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) troops there. On 13 May, the
commission ordered Kazini to testify on 20 May, or face arrest, following
repeated failures to do so previously.

Porter told IRIN that Kazini's prior failure to appear before the commission
had delayed its investigation "by two or three weeks", and that it had
therefore brought the matter to the attention of the Foreign Ministry, which
would then decide if an extension of the commission's mandate, due to expire
on 31 May, would be extended.

Asked when and if the commission's final report would be made public, Porter
said such a decision was in the hands of the ministry. He added, however,
that although it was within the ministry's rights to withhold publication of
the report, the commission's interim report had been made public the day
following its submission.

The commission was established in May 2001 in response to a report from a UN
panel of experts, who alleged that while Ugandan troops may have first
entered the DRC in August 1998 for reasons of insecurity along Uganda's
western border, it took advantage of its status as the de facto authority
throughout northern and eastern DRC to profit financially from the pillage
of that county's rich natural resources, including timber, diamonds and
gold.
[ENDS]

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