General testifies before DRC exploitation commission

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 granted. 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.