Goma produce released without payment of duties

Goods which had piled up at customs posts established by the Goma faction of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) to collect taxes on produce entering Goma from the RCD-Kisangani controlled areas of Beni and Butembo, have now been released without the payment of levies, Goma residents told IRIN on Friday. An RCD-Goma roadblock which was set up at Ruthshuru has also been taken away, they added. The Goma grouping had decided that all goods coming from a new RCD-Kisangani “province” incorporating Beni and Butembo areas - known as “province de Ruwenzori” - were coming from a foreign country, and that traders were due to pay customs duties when importing goods through Kasindi or from Beni-Butembo, IRIN sources added. The current status of that taxation demand was not known. Emile Ilunga, leader of the Goma faction, stated during an interview with local radio in the town that he would not tolerate being cut off from the northern part of North Kivu province, and that his rebel group would “forcibly” have to gain access if they could not negotiate it, according to sources in Goma. Meanwhile, the widespread belief that soldiers, and some powerful people associated with both Goma and Kisangani factions of the RCD, have been selling gold, diamonds, timber and coffee from the province, has been confirmed by IRIN sources in North Kivu. Flights were being chartered to export precious stones, while timber was transported by truck, and was not being subjected to any taxes, they said.