11 June 2005. Thanks to A.
PRESS STATEMENT
Immediate
ALL WIRES
6 June 2005
issued by
--------
Media spokesperson
Parti National Congolais
(Congolese National Party)
KINSHASA
http://www.partinationalcongolais.org
Parti_National_Congolais@yahoo.com
The National Party of Congo (PNC) yesterday welcomed the release of the Human Rights Watch report, The Curse of Gold, that details the exploitation of Congolese resources by foreigners claiming to have concessions by the Josef Kanambe (aka Josef Kabila) regime in Kinshasa.
Copy of the report in question is available at this link http://hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/
The HRW report singles out Anglo-Gold Ashanti - part of the international mining conglomerate Anglo American - accusing it of benefiting from a relationship with the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) to secure rights to a gold concession in Ituri in north-eastern DRC.
The FNI is responsible for some of the worst abuses in the region. Its bandits killed 100 women and children in a single massacre during 2003, as it closed in on a goldfield close to Mongbwalu.
The PNC emphasised "the contents are shocking to westerners who are now beginning to learn the extent of the rape of the Congolese people and the stripping of their natural resources unlawfully under the chaos of the United Nations supervised farce that is supposed to result in the registration of 45 million eligible voters over 2.5 million square kilometres by October this year".
Leading pillagers are British, Belgium, Rwandan, Ugandan and South African entities. Many of these fleecing operations with attendant genocidal killings have long been highlighted by the PNC and its self-defence units, the Mai Mai. The PNC said "this HRW will be distinctly discomforting to Congo's enemies including those in the 'transitional government' who issue concessions like confetti for mineral access on territory they can only access on maps against the walls of their offices in Kinshasa. The role of the 'DRC ambassador to Pretoria', Benjamin Mpoko, in 'facilitating' these kind of deals has long been noted by the PNC and the Mai Mai and is condemned again.
Previously Anglo Gold had arrived in eastern DRC in the areas controlled by the Mai Mai (opposed to the FNI banditry and fighting a struggle for national liberation) and started stripping overburden to prepare for exploitation of gold-bearing mineral rock only to be confronted by the Mai Mai forces. Not even their thinly disguised "security detail" in reality a mercenary outfit, could prevent their operation being shut down - permanently. Anglo then moved northward to the Ituri region.
The PNC wishes to point out that the role of Anglo in funding the Rwandan invasion of Congo through its relationship with the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) now part of the Kanambe regime benefited by an Anglo US$300 000 donation to Wamba Dia Wamba and his Kigali masters in the mid 1990s. Pivotal were Anglo's Robert Danshin and Kala Mpinga. Aircraft provided by Mpinga and Danshin regularly flew him and RCD political and military hierarchy around DRC and the region. The recent HRW confirms this practise is continuing by Anglo Gold Ashanti.
Accordingly the PNC treats with derision the statement by Bobby Godsell, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo Gold Ashanti when he said "the company entered the area after advice from the transitional government and Monuc and felt its presence would contribute to the country's peace process". This is a shallow pretext to violate Congolese sovereignty and loot. The so-called 'transitional governement' is a total joke on the ground and just does not exist as Godsell found out when the FNI (incidentally part of the transitional farce in Kinshasa) wanted protection money and other benefits amply supplied by Anglo-gold Ashanti.
An added insult to injury is Godsells' breath-taking justification for being in the region to start with: "$1,5-million per year in lease payments for the right to look for minerals in the country. Once discovered, the minerals would be taxed by the Kinshasa government". Godsell needs to understand his neo-colonial concession from the Kanambe regime in Kinshasa is meaningless on the ground. The Kanambe regime has no authority to extend any mineral concessions or mining rights to anybody as it is illegitimate; further in pandering to banditry "AngloGold Ashanti [has] delivered material benefits and prestige to the FNI" as was stated in the HRW report.
The PNC takes this opportunity to warn Anglo Gold Ashanti to cease and desist in accessing Congolese resources before of after any supposed election supervised by the UN, Belgium or South Africa.
Consequently, in the light of the HRW report, the below-mentioned members of Anglo Gold Ashanti are admonished to remain away from the territory of the DRC and in particular areas under the control of religious, ecological, church and self defence units under the umbrella of the Congolese National Party (PNC) as their personal safety cannot be guaranteed over any part of our country, namely
Bobby Godsell : Chief Executive OfficerJonathan Best : Executive Director: Finance (Chief Financial Officer)
Dave Hodgson : Chief Operating Officer
Sam Jonah : President
Kelvin Williams : Executive Director: Marketing
Russell Edey : Chairman and independent non-executive director
James Motlatsi : Deputy Chairman and independent non-executive director
Frank Arisman (New York) : Independent non-executive director
Elisabeth Bradley : Independent non-executive director
Colin Brayshaw : Independent non-executive director
Tony Lea : member. Finance member (director of Anglo American plc.)
Bill Nairn : member
Simon Thompson: member. Chief Executive of Anglo American Base Metals Division. Director of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. Member of the Executive Committee of Anglo American plc.
Tony Trahar: member. Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American plc
Lazarus Zim: member. Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited.
David Barber: member. Finance Director of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.
Harry Calver: member. Head of Engineering Anglo American plc
Peter Whitcutt: member. Head of Finance at Anglo American plc.
Merene Botsio-Phillips; member. Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited
Roberto Carvalho Silva: member. Executive officer of AngloGold.
Richard Duffy: member. Executive officer of AngloGold Ashanti.
Dawn Earp: member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Ben Guenther: member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Robbie Lazare: member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Steve Lenahan. member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Mark Lynam. member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Neville Nicolau : member. Deputy chief operating officer
Yedwa Simelane: member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Nigel Unwin: member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat): member. Executive officer AngloGold
Gordon Wylie: member. Executive officer AngloGold Ashanti.
Christopher Bull: member. Secretary AngloGold Ashanti.
Robert Danshin and Kala Mpinga have been warned before.
ENDS ITEM