Congo: Independent investigation called for – is the neighbouring country Uganda responsible?

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) called for an independent investigation following the violent death of eight UN peace-keeping soldiers on Monday in the east of the Congo. "It is important that we find out more about the circumstances of this strange matter and whether Ugandan soldiers were involved”, was the demand of the GfbV expert, Ulrich Delius, on Tuesday in Göttingen. "If the German government is considering a military involvement in the Congo, it should insist on an investigation.”

It is true that the UN peace-keeping force in the Congo (MONUC) held Ugandan rebels responsible for the killing, but there were doubts as to this official version. Regardless of better judgement and to avoid political conflicts with the government of Uganda the MONUC had held Ugandan rebels responsible for the killing of a UN soldier at Christmas 2005 and not the regular Ugandan army for the fighting in the east of the Congo,.

The MONUC reports that between 23rd and 28th December an Indian UN soldier, six Congolese soldiers and 54 Ugandan rebels were killed in fighting in Nioka and other places near the town of Mahagi in the north-east of Ituri. Trustworthy witnesses report however that many of the supposed rebels killed had identifying papers showing that they were regular Ugandan soldiers. The MONUC did not reveal their real identity in order not to anger the Ugandan government and thus endanger their supply-route via the airport of the Ugandan capital of Entebbe.

Senior officers of the Ugandan army have been enriching themselves for years by plundering raw materials (tropical wood and minerals) in the east of the Congo, taking these goods illegally across the "green border” to Uganda and abroad. Salim Saleh, the influential brother of the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, is also involved in these illegal affairs.

It was not until 10th December 2005 that the International Court of Justice at Den Haag sentenced Uganda to the payment of damages for the theft of raw materials in the east of the Congo. The Ugandan government denies the presence of Ugandan soldiers in the Congo. All the soldiers who had previously been stationed in the neighbouring country were returned to Uganda in March 2003, declares the Ugandan government - in spite of quite different reports from human rights organisations.