UN panel examines sanctions busting

The 25-year civil war has killed about 500,000 people

By Lara Pawson in Luanda

A fact-finding team appointed by the UN in July to investigate sanctions against Angola's Unita rebels is meeting with government officials in Luanda this week.

Since 1993 three rounds of sanctions have been imposed on Unita, which make it illegal to buy Unita diamonds or to sell the rebels weapons, fuel or mining equipment.

And in March this year a UN report accused several African presidents, foreign arms dealers and diamond traders of flouting the sanctions.

The new team of sanctions investigators will have to work hard if it is to avoid the sort of criticisms levelled against the previous panel of experts which was led by Canadian Ambassador Robert Fowler.

Countries that were named and shamed in the Fowler report have, since May, been granted a six-month period of grace.

The new panel will be checking to see that those countries, which include Togo and Burkina Faso, are complying with the sanctions.

Evidence

The Angolan Government said it already had evidence to prove otherwise.

Diamonds finance Unita's war machine

In May, the government was given a copy of a passport belonging to a Unita member which was supplied by Togolese police.

Last week a recent Unita defector, Eugenio George Kassesse, told reporters in Luanda that plenty of material, including arms, is being flown into Unita areas.

He said that the presidents of Togo and Burkina Faso remain very close friends of Unita leader Jonas Savimbi.

Juan Larrain from Chile heads the new commission, which includes Christine Gordon, a British journalist; Lena Sundh, a Swedish diplomat; James Manzou, also a diplomat, from Zimbabwe and Ismili Seck from Senegal.

Alex Fines, a senior researcher from Human Rights Watch, has expressed concern that the new five-member panel is too small to effectively follow up investigations.

Other critics say the panel will achieve limited results if the UN fails to provide proper logistical and administrative support.