{UAH} UN EXPERTS FIND BID TO SMUGGLE CONGO ARMS VIA RWANDA

U.N. experts find bid to smuggle Congo arms via Rwanda to Burundi rebels

·        By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council found there have been attempts to smuggle weapons from Democratic Republic of Congo through Rwanda to rebels in Burundi where a political crisis threatens to spiral out of control.

The report by experts who monitor sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo said Congolese authorities arrested Rwandan and Congolese civilians and two Congolese army officers in October and November on suspicion of arms smuggling.

They were caught at a border post between Congo and Rwanda with weapons, some of which "were hidden in bags of green beans or manioc, and others were hidden in the chassis of a car," the group of U.N. experts wrote in the report, seen by Reuters this week.

"The group conducted interviews with the perpetrators, some of whom confirmed that the weapons were to be used in support of an armed group in Burundi," the experts said. "The group was able to identify one of the (Congolese army) officers as have been involved in selling arms from (Congolese army) storage."

The U.N. experts did not say how many weapons were seized.

 

 

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