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Testimonies from five separate former FDLR combatants and three FARDC officers indicated that Col David Rugayi, formerly of the 14th integrated brigade, has been responsible for the diversion of large amounts of military equipment to the FDLR on several occasions in 2008, notably in February, June, October, November and December 2008 in the territory of Masisi and in the towns of Kalungu and Kibua. According to these testimonies, the equipment reportedly included hundreds of 107mm cannon rockets, a recoilless 107mm cannon, several RPGs, three machine guns of 12.7mm and 14.5mm caliber and two hundred boxes of 7.62x39mm ammunition (roughly 50,000 rounds), 230 AK-47s and several 82mm mortars.Col Rugayi, who is loyal to former Rwandan-backed North Kivu governor Eugene Serufuli, one of the founders of the sanctioned entity Tous pour la Paix et le Developpement (TPD), is also reported by three FARDC officers, interviewed by the Group to have taken charge most of the heavier weapons controlled by the predominately Hutu PARECO Mai Mai before their fighters were integrated into the FARDC.
According to several military sources, Col Rugayi's 14th brigade was also heavily infiltrated by FDLR fighters when it was deployed in mining rich zones in the territory of Kalehe. The Group gathered several consistent testimonies from FDLR ex-combatants of Col Rugayi's involvement in exploiting cassiterite and gold in mining areas under the control of the FDLR in Kalehe, before the FDLR were pushed out of these areas by newly integrated FARDC units mainly composed of ex-CNDP elements.
Armies also need a means to transport their weapons and there is not one region of the world that has not been complicit in supplying, trucks, tanks, trailers and aircraft in violation of UN sanctions and reporting procedures. Besides the Boeing 727 from Florida, the United Arab Emirates supplied three Antonov (AN) 12 aircraft for the DRC Air Force. The Ukraine supplied Mi-24 attack helicopters, Sudan sent arms on Hewa Bora's Boeing 707 (9Q-CKR), China offloaded 191 tons of weaponry from the An Xin Jiang, and North Korea provided FARDC with 3,500 tons of equipment and weapons shipped on the vessel, Bi Ro Bong. This is only a fraction of the shipments detailed in the report that the Security Council does not want the world to see.
Regarding the Boeing 727 from Florida:
The aircraft was purchased for US$ 806,000 on 24 June 2009 by Mr. Timothy Roman, a U.S. national and former personal pilot of Joseph Kabila, from a company in Miami, Florida using an aircraft broker in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Group was informed by an aviation industry source close to the deal that Mr. Roman purchased the aircraft for the Government of the DRC. The United States Federal Aviation Administration lists Mr. Roman's company, Professional Maintenance Services Incorporated in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, as the last owner of the aircraft, with the aircraft having been deregistered on 5 August 2009 because it was exported to the DRC. The Congolese Civil Aviation Administration (AAC) had no knowledge of this aircraft, and N-727YK does not appear in the AAC's most recent database. According to the testimony of sources and due to the fact that this aircraft does not appear on the civilian aircraft register, the Group believes that N-727YK was supplied to the Ministry of Defence upon arrival in the DRC. At the time of writing, the Group has been unable to obtain information on the sale and export of this aircraft to the DRC and requested further information from the United States and the DRC governments. The Group contacted Mr. Roman who said that the aircraft was sold by his company in Pennsylvania to Wimbi Dira Airways in the DRC, a company in which he serves as the chief executive officer.
The report terms these transactions "opaque arms deals."
Regarding shipments from Sudan:
The evidence presented above concerning arms flights from Khartoum to Kisangani and Kinshasa clearly shows repeated violations of paragraph 5 of resolution 1807 (2008) by the Government of Sudan. The Group requested information on the four flights in December 2008 and February 2009 but the Government of Sudan replied that no such flights had occurred, which is directly contradicted by three flight plans for these flights raised by Khartoum and transmitted to Kinshasa. The Group further requested that the Government of Sudan provide copies of logbooks from Khartoum International Airport as outlined in paragraph 7 of resolution 1596 (2005), but, at the time of writing, the Group did not receive a reply to this request.
Most interesting is a section of the report which corroborates information that Rwanda and DRC were operating in collusion in late January during the ouster of Laurent Nkunda from the CNDP. This action installed wanted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda as a commander in the FARDC. The story involves a white Mi-8 helicopter and meetings between John Numbi, the head of the Congolese police (Annex 65) who managed Operation Umoja Wetu, and Major General James Kaberebe, the army chief of Rwanda. Kabarebe is alleged to have been the spokesman for Bosco Ntaganda in early contacts with the BBC in January when the toppling of Laurent Nkunda was announced prematurely. Both men are alleged to have masterminded the detention of Nkunda though bribes to war criminal Ntaganda in the amount of $250,000.
The Group of Experts has investigated the operations of a white Mi-8 helicopter based out of Goma and requisitioned by the Congolese National Police (PNC). The white Mi-8 registered UR-HLC is owned by a Ukrainian company Khoriv-Avia but was leased to the Congolese Police by another company, Aerospace Consortium (FZE) in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.This company leased the helicopter on 27 January 2009 to the Minister of Interior Security of the DRC represented by the Police National Congolaise (PNC) (Annex 64). The document is signed by John Numbi, the head of the Congolese police (Annex 65) who managed Operation Umoja Wetu along with Major General James Kaberebe, the army chief of Rwanda.
Between the date of leasing and the helicopter's departure from the DRC on 10 June, it flew a total of forty flights out of Goma airport, with an additional two flights performed for the PNC prior to the signing of the contract. These flights, the last of which took place on 28 April 2009, were mainly listed as local flights within Goma but several aviation sources note that the genuine destination was hidden from the RVA. A source from the company that leased the Mi-8 informed the Group in writing that "most of the time the helicopter was used for the peace talks and evacuation of wounded personnel and shifting of Cargo [sic] from DRC to Rwanda and back".
The Mi-8 performed eight flights from Goma in January 2009, fourteen in February, fifteen in March, and five in April 2009. In total, the helicopter performed twenty-one flights from Goma after the official end of Umoja-Wetu. Since the departures and arrivals of the Mi-8 are only listed as local flights, the Group cannot determine its exact routing in the DRC and Rwanda. The local flight on 28 April 2009, for example, lasted four hours before the helicopter returned to Goma, and the flight on 22 April lasted six hours to and from Masisi, a destination that is approximately a fifteen minute flight from Goma.
Ntaganda, the "Terminator," is now making at least $250,000 per month in his smuggling, timber, taxing and marijuana operations in and around Goma.
There is so much more, and that is why I have uploaded the report for enterprising investigative journalists who do not have access.
Some things to consider:
While MONUC was at the very least complicit to civilian casualties during joint military operation to drive out the FDLR, costs were escalating to over $1 billion per year.
Spanish and Roman Catholic networks are supplying funds to the FDLR.
During the initial phase, Operation Umoja Wetu, FARDC (Congolese Army) and RDF (Rwandan Army) commanders embezzled "several million" dollars.
