Armed groups in eastern Congo, including
the army, have bypassed international reform programs and have
instead formed criminal networks to exploit the nation's mineral
wealth, with one group even trying to sell uranium, the United
Nations said in a new report.
Monday's report said the armed units have done so despite recent
efforts to disarm illegal militias and reform the disorganized,
ill-disciplined army. The report said the army has even formed a
criminal gang within its ranks.
Investigators cited several examples of militants illegally
exploiting minerals and natural resources, seizing land, recruiting
child soldiers and poaching endangered wildlife.
The report said Rwandan-led Hutu rebels in Congo in 2008
attempted to sell six canisters of what they said was unenriched
uranium - an amount that the report said would not be enough to
create even a small amount of fissile material - but could not find
a buyer for more than a year and gave up.
At U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday, the Security Council
renewed its arms embargo for people and groups not associated with
the government, along with a travel ban and a freeze on the assets
of people linked to illegal armed groups.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice welcomed the extension of
the sanctions, which she said "can play an important role in
bringing stability to the (Congo) and holding accountable those who
direct the massacre of civilians, recruit child soldiers, or use
rape as a weapon of war."
Rice also welcomed the council's support for possible new
guidelines for people and companies that import, process, or consume
Congolese mineral products.
"If implemented, these guidelines could significantly limit the
illicit minerals trade, which has for many years fueled violence"
in Congo, she said.
Eastern Congo has been torn by violence since Rwanda's 1994
genocide spilled war across the border. Hutu militias that
participated in the massacres of more than 500,000 Tutsis and
moderate Hutus sought refuge in Congo.
The U.N. has documented numerous human rights violations and
atrocities at the hands of armed groups in eastern Congo.
In October, the U.N. said more than 300 civilians were raped by
militants in 13 villages between July 30 and Aug. 2. The numbers
were shocking even for eastern Congo, where rape has become a daily
hazard and some women have been sexually assaulted repeatedly over
the years.
Efforts have been made to professionalize the army and to bring
militia groups into the organization. But those efforts are
struggling. In October, the top U.N. envoy said Congolese government
troops were raping, killing and robbing civilians in the same area
of eastern Congo where militias carried out the mass rapes.
