29 July 1999
Security Council Looking to Tighten UNITA Sanctions
(U.S. urges nations to stop cooperating with profiteers) (1200) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -The UN Security Council is pushing forward with its efforts to choke off the supply of arms and money to the Angolan rebel movement UNITA and thus "reduce its capacity to make war," says Canadian Ambassador Robert Fowler. Fowler, chairman of the Security Council committee monitoring compliance with the six-year-old sanctions, briefed the council July 29 on the latest developments regarding UN sanctions imposed on UNITA and its leader, Jonas Savimbi. He is seeking ways to tighten sanctions already imposed on the rebel group and exploring ways to induce Savimbi to return to the negotiating table and end the nation's long civil war. Fowler just completed a July visit to Algeria, Belgium, France, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom to discuss tightening the sanctions regime, especially its bans on the direct or indirect export of diamonds by UNITA, the sale of weapons to UNITA, and the movement of funds to UNITA. He also addressed the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Algiers July 9; and in May he spent 20 days in central and southern Africa visiting Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Fowler told council members that he has been "greatly encouraged by the response" he has received so far from governments, regional organizations, international agencies such as Interpol and the World Customs Organization, as well as the diamond industry. "The purpose of United Nations Security Council sanctions is not punitive," Fowler said. "We're not imposing these sanctions and I'm not seeking to enforce them out of some desire to be nasty to Mr. Savimbi or UNITA. What I am trying to do is cause this war to end by reducing UNITA's capacity to make war." Fowler said that he has been reminding governments of their obligation as U.N. member states to enact regulations and legislation to ensure that the Security Council sanctions against UNITA have the force of law and violators can and will be punished. In all, the committee has made 19 recommendations based on the data and information collected during the two trips. The latest recommendations include providing assistance to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help with sanctions implementation and creating a working group with Interpol. The Security Council has already authorized the creation of two "expert" panels to collect information on violators and violations, to recommend measures to aid enforcement, and to address the sources of military support to UNITA. The sanctions committee has estimated that Savimbi has made "between $3 and $4 billion [$3,000-$4,000 million] in diamond sales over the past eight years. Furthermore, there is some indication that [Savimbi] has made more money by investing a lot of that very wisely in a bull market, and therefore he has made significant profits on those investments," Fowler said. One of the expert panel's tasks will be "to look into financial transactions to see if we can get a better hold on what they are and where they are and in whose name, etc., so that we can begin to shut them down," Fowler said. U.S. Ambassador Peter Burleigh said that "the profiteers who help supply UNITA, if allowed to continue their malevolent mischief today, will create death and suffering elsewhere tomorrow. We must work together to put an end to these destructive activities." "While Angola's neighbors are not the sole actors in making sanctions against UNITA more effective, their role cannot be overemphasized," the U.S. ambassador said. " As the porous borders that are used to supply UNITA are made ever more solid, the peace and security of the whole region are improved." "Until now, UNITA has managed to evade most of these sanctions and has therefore been able to remain aggressive on the battlefield," Burleigh said. "The world community -- nations and citizens alike -- must work together to change this." "Profit from sanctions busting must be seen for what it is -- the means to continued war and suffering," the U.S. ambassador said. Burleigh noted that the momentum is changing under Fowler's energy and creativity as chairman of the sanctions committee. Fowler's work, the ambassador said, has "helped many people see -- perhaps for the first time -- the immense importance of this enterprise." "The United States, for its part, stands ready to work together with any state committed to the common goal of improved implementation of the UN sanctions against UNITA," Burleigh said. He pointed out that the United States has "worked to identify senior UNITA officials to whom specific travel and financial sanctions apply; has promulgated regulations with criminal penalties for U.S. citizens violating these sanctions; has volunteered personnel for the expert panels and is seeking to do the same with financial support; and has consistently sought to share intelligence information on violations and violators." Fowler said his goal is not to see that the flow of funds to UNITA is turned off just in Africa, but everywhere in the world -- and especially in the diamond centers and weapons-producing countries. Nevertheless, the Canadian ambassador, who early in his diplomatic career was a member of the Rhodesia sanctions committee, conceded that it would be impossible to stop the diamond trade with UNITA entirely. "There is no more concentrated form of value in the world than diamonds. A handful of them represents a head of government's salary for life in many instances," Fowler said. "We were told in school that diamonds are the hardest substance known to mankind. I think we ought to have been told they are the most corrosive substance known to mankind as well." "Anything of this value will find a market somewhere. There may be all kinds of bodies between the river bed and the market, but they will find a market," he said. The sanctions committee members intend "to do everything we can to ensure that UNITA gets as little return as possible for the diamonds they sell," the ambassador said. "They will sell the diamonds, but let's force them into gray markets and black markets. Let's force them to use the back door rather than the front door. .Let's force them to use more middlemen or more unscrupulous middlemen so that the amount of money they get to buy tanks is less." "And on the flip side ... let's see what we can do to make sure that the cost of ... the tanks and armored personnel carriers and rocket launchers and assault rifles and the enormous quantities of ammunition that [Savimbi] is expending is much more expensive; that there is a much higher risk associated with trying to supply them and therefore the cost of doing it significantly increases so the result is he buys less," Fowler said. The sanctions, some of which have been in place since 1993, include prohibitions on the sale and supply of arms and other forms of military assistance and petroleum and petroleum products, the provision of funds or financial resources, the export of diamonds, and a ban on travel and representation abroad by UNITA officials.
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