Global Policy Forum

By Edith M. Lederer

A U.N.-appointed panel has urged the Security Council to impose an arms and trade embargo on Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi for plundering Congo's mineral riches in their 2 1/2-year war to topple the former government. But it did not call for any action against Congo's supporters Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

In a report to the Security Council Monday, the five-member panel said the 2 1/2-year civil war had turned into a lucrative business venture for all the combatants to the point where enemies sometimes joined forces to make money from the country's diamonds, gold, timber and minerals. Panel chairman Safiatou Ba-N'Daw, a former Ivory Coast energy minister, told a news conference the exploitation of Congo's resources by the combatants continues today. ''The only losers are the Congolese people,'' she said.

But the panel limited its call for sanctions only to Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, which backed the campaign to oust former Congolese President Laurent Kabila, and to the rebel groups operating in Congo. It accepted that the Congolese government used its resources to cover the war expenses of its allies, especially Zimbabwe, and to a much lesser extent Angola and Namibia.

Asked why the report focused almost exclusively on the exploitation by countries fighting to oust former President Laurent Kabila, Ba-N'Daw said the panel received better information and documentation, primarily from rebels that once supported them. ''We tried to get the same information from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, but we didn't have as much detail,'' she said.

The Security Council has imposed diamond and arms embargoes on rebels in Angola and Sierra Leone in a bid to strangle their abilities to make war, but no such sanctions exist on Congo or its rebel groups. The council is scheduled to get a closed-door briefing Friday from the panel, and it will then have to decide whether to pursue its sanction recommendations which Ba-N'Daw and others admit will be difficult to implement.

The council asked the panel to analyze how sales and transfers of minerals gave incentives to all combatants to continue the war.

The panel accused top military commanders in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi of helping to systematically exploit Congo's resources along with a number of companies, individuals and a growing international network of criminal cartels. It said Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ''are on the verge of becoming the godfathers of the illegal exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the conflict'' in Congo.

The search for peace has gained momentum since Joseph Kabila took power following his father's assassination in January. He has pledged to do everything possible to end the war and meet key provisions of a 1999 peace agreement signed by Congo and its allies and the rebel groups and their backers, Uganda and Rwanda.

In an effort to promote an end to the war, the panel called on the council to punish Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi by halting all their trade in diamonds, gold, timber and several minerals including coltran, which is widely used in high-tech equipment. The trade sanctions should remain in effect until the council declares that the three countries' exploitation of Congo's resources has stopped, and any country breaking this embargo should face sanctions, it said.

The panel also called for Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi to pay compensation to farmers, religious groups and companies whose crops, land and resources were confiscated or taken between 1998 and 2000. The U.N. missions of the three countries had no immediate comment on to the report.

The panel also demanded an immediate arms embargo against rebel groups operating in Congo and the freezing of their assets. It urged the council to call on all countries to freeze the assets of companies and individuals that continue to exploit Congo's resources. The 56-page report makes an unusual final recommendation: It urges the council to hold the countries that are parties to the conflict, the rebel movements, and military figures cited in the report, responsible if any panel member is harmed.

The panel cited harassment in Bunia and other localities of people who supplied information. Ba-N'Daw said she had received threats by e-mail and in person, and that some other panel members ''have had difficulties to put it mildly.''