The U.S. government has frozen assets of two men from the former Soviet Union. Viktor Bout and Dmitry Popov are accused of illegally supplying weapons to rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to a statement from the White House, the two were supplying weapons to the fighters in the east of the country using a small airline as cover. The arms were allegedly traded for illegal diamonds in Africa.
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November 3, 2006
Russian businessman placed on the list of individuals allegedly involved in delivering weapons to Congo has denied his involvement after President George W. Bush said earlier this week he had ordered that assets be frozen of dissident general Laurent Nkunda and six other individuals, including Viktor Bout.
Russian entrepreneur Viktor Bout denied his involvement in deliveries of weapons to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday. “I have absolutely nothing to do with any shipments of weapons to Congo,†Bout told Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio.
Previously, Viktor Bout had been accused of illegally selling weapons to a number of countries, including African nations.
On Tuesday President George W. Bush on Tuesday ordered that assets be frozen of dissident general Laurent Nkunda and six others considered by the White House to be destabilizing forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Reuters reported. Bush issued an executive order immediately blocking any assets under U.S. jurisdiction of seven individuals accused of impeding disarmament activities, violating international laws on the targeting of children, or violating the U.N. arms embargo.
The move came two days after a presidential election in the central African country, which is home to the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping force. The vote, praised by foreign observers as largely peaceful and transparent, was meant to bring an end to decades of conflict and pillage that have left the mineral-rich country destitute.
Nkunda, a Tutsi accused of war crimes allegedly committed in 2004, leads a rebellion from Congo’s eastern hills and is reinventing himself as a protector of all Congolese excluded by the central government. Also targeted by the executive order was Hutu rebel leader Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR). The FDLR is accused of taking part in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
The U.N. last year extended the arms embargo on Congo and introduced a travel ban and assets freeze on those violating the embargo.
Others named in the executive order were: Khawa Panga Mandro, former president of the Party for Unity and Safeguarding of the Integrity of Congo (PUSIC); Viktor Anatolijevitch Bout, owner of the Great Lakes Business Company and Business Air Services; Sanjivan Singh Ruprah, a businessman; Dimitri Igorevich Popov, general manager of the Great Lakes Business Company; and Douglas Mpano, manager of the Great Lakes Business Company.
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November 1, 2006
