Allegations of UNITA support “merely hearsay”

Allegations of Rwandan collaboration with Angolan UNITA rebels were “merely hearsay” generated by those interested in “distorting the facts” for their own reasons, Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Joseph Mutaboba, said on Friday. Speaking at a UN Headquarters press briefing, Mutaboba said the allegations, contained in a recent report by an expert panel on the breaking of UN sanctions against UNITA, did not reflect information given to the panel during its visit to Kigali, according to a UN account of the press conference. Mutaboba said that, although arms or diamond traders might have been in Rwanda, it was “totally wrong” to say they had the backing and protection of the authorities. If the expert panel could identify who the traders had met and who was protecting them, “they would be arrested immediately”, he said.