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The following is an unauthorized version of the Report of the Panel of Experts to the United Nations on Sierra Leone.
This is not the official report. The official report has not yet been released. The report posted here is subject to change by the sanctions committee.
VI. OTHER ISSUES
A. The Role of Customs in Exporting and Transit Countries
238. In the case of the July and August 2000 deliveries of military helicopters and heavy calibre missiles, the Panel did not obtain conclusive information on the exact source of supply. In general, however, the Panel believes that initiatives should be taken to enhance the capacity of countries in Eastern Europe to monitor arms exports more carefully. It is hard to conceal something the size of an Mi-17 military helicopter, and the supply of such items to Liberia cannot go undetected by customs authorities in originating countries unless there are false flight plans and end-user certificates, or unless customs officials at points of exit are paid to look the other way. The constant involvement of Victor Bout's aircraft in arms shipments from Eastern Europe into African war zones suggests the latter. A serious investigation into the capacity of licensing and monitoring authorities in Eastern Europe is therefore warranted.
239. Where West Africa is concerned, any aircraft flying from Eastern Europe must make at least one fuel stop halfway through the trip. At these refuelling airports, cargo could be inspected and illicit goods detected. In addition, arms shipments in violation of UN sanctions often pass through countries neighbouring the embargoed state. A third possible inspection of the cargo could occur there. There have been few significant cases, however, of aircraft with weapons being grounded in Eastern Europe, at important fuelling points such as Cairo, Nairobi or Entebbe, or anywhere in West Africa.
240. The strengthening of air surveillance or border controls alone is not enough to stop the problem of illicit arms flights. Coordination and feedback between any country of origin and any country of destination for international military cargo shipments is needed, and customs and airport authorities can play an equally important role in the implementation of sanctions. The World Customs Organisation has designed a standardised, single document that could harmonise and standardise the procedure for the declaration and inspection of cargo at border crossings, ports or airports.
B. The Role of Airport Authorities and Inspectors
241. Aircraft that land or ship cargo are obliged to file for a foreign operating licence. The directorate of each airport is responsible for inspecting the legitimacy of all arriving planes and their operators. Here are two possible levels of inspection that can be used to deter illegal arms shippers. The filing of false flight plans, the use of fake aircraft registration, and the background of a plane's operator can all be scrutinized at these levels. Some of the arms traffickers and the planes they use are well known.
242. The use of multiple registration numbers for one plane, or the changing overnight from one register to another is a practice that should be viewed with suspicion by airport authorities worldwide. Victor Bout and other operators transporting illicit goods have been able to get away with such practices in far too many countries. In a few cases he has attracted minor fines, but not enough to stop his lucrative alliances with warlords, rebel leaders and criminals in many African countries.
243. Although some countries have temporarily or permanently stopped aircraft registered in Liberia from entering their airspace, the Liberian register continues to be used fraudulently. The practice has clearly been organised from Liberia in cooperation with shrewd businessmen abroad, and Liberian planes remain prominent in many African countries, particularly in countries at war.
C. The Non-Observance of Moratoria and Embargoes
244. Signatories to the Wassenaar Arrangement, which includes some of the world's most significant producers of arms, including small arms and ammunition, have agreed on a voluntary basis to participate in weapons and ammunition export controls. The signatories also agreed to abide by the ECOWAS Moratorium, and to restrain their arms exports to the West Africa. The Panel deplores the fact that Ukraine, a signatory to the Wassenaar Arrangement, and Burkina Faso, a signatory to the ECOWAS Moratorium, have shown neither restraint nor due care and diligence in their arms transactions, and were involved in a major arms deal only months after signing these agreements. Furthermore, the arms were diverted to Liberia for use by the rebels in Sierra Leone, in gross violation of the spirit of the ECOWAS-Moratorium and of the United Nations Sanctions imposed on Liberia and Sierra Leone.
245. The ECOWAS Moratorium does not cover illicit trafficking. However from 30 November to 1 December 2000 a Ministerial Conference was held under the auspices of the Organisation of African Unity, in Bamako, Mali. A declaration was adopted on an African Common Position on the Illicit Proliferation, Circulation and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons. The signatories agreed to enhance the capacity of the OAU's member states to identify, seize and destroy illicit weapons and to put in place measures to control the circulation, possession, transfer and use of small arms and light weapons and the institutionalisation of training programmes to control and eradicate the circulation of illicit arms in Africa.
246. Military cargo should always be accompanied by an export licence, an end-user certificate, an airway bill, a pro-forma invoice and a cargo manifest, together with a detailed description of the items in the cargo. The revised 1996 Kyoto Convention on Customs is an adequate basis for this improved procedure, but the Convention awaits ratification and implementation of UN member states. A single globally-adapted document accompanying military cargo would provide customs officers or exporting, transiting and importing authorities with much greater clarity on the precise nature of the cargo, and the parties involved in the handling, shipping, facilitating or buying and selling the weaponry. As a first step, urgent ratification of the Convention by all UN member states is necessary.
D. Further Research
247. Financial assets are at the heart of all criminal enterprise. Lost workers and equipment can always be replaced if financial assets are not targeted. Because of time constraints, the Panel could not look into the assets of RUF leaders, their sponsors and the members of the organised crime groups that supply them. Further investigation is required to identify, trace, freeze and confiscate these assets.
248. Because of time constraints, the Panel was unable to fully investigate the original source (i.e. producing countries) of weapons that contravene the Security Council embargoes in question. As noted below (paragraph 251), one outstanding query involves an incident in Kazakhstan. Another involves a Moldova-based company named Renan.
249. On various occasions prior to the arrival of UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone, Nigerian ECOMOG troops lost weapons to the RUF when they fell victim to rebel ambushes. During the December 1998 siege of Kono, for example, the rebels captured a great number of ECOMOG weapons, including a number of armoured vehicles. In addition, however, the Panel heard an overwhelming number of reports on Nigerian ECOMOG troops exchanging weapons with the RUF for cash, diamonds, food or other goods. The information was considered reliable, but in order to verify or disprove these allegations, further investigation will be required.
250. During its work, the Panel obtained information on connections between the RUF and rebels in Guinea-Bissau, and with UNITA representatives in West Africa. The evidence, however, was not conclusive, and needs more research, preferably with cooperation from law enforcement and border control authorities in the region.
251. An accomplice of Victor Bout, a Russian citizen named Oleg Grigorovich Orlov, is the subject of a government investigation in Kazakhstan into the smuggling of two Mi-8T helicopters out of the country. According to the Government of Kazakhstan, Orlov is active in the arms markets of the Confederation of Independent States, Syria, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, North Korea and certain African countries, including Eritrea. He is associated with the following companies: Dunford-Avia Progress Ltd. (Cyprus), Global Omarus Technology Ltd. lately renamed EMM Arab System Ltd. (Cyprus), Euroasian Financial Industry Group (Singapore and Malaysia), Belmont Trading and Gulfstream. Further investigation of Orlov and his association with Victor Bout could shed light on an important source of illegal weapons flows into Africa.
252. On 7 December 2000 the panel was informed by Ugandan authorities that Ugandan Customs had recently seized a consignment of arms, believed to be destined for Monrovia. Ugandan authority had been granted for air transport of the consignment from Entebbe to Conakry for the use of the Guinean Ministry of Defence. The flight plan, however, showed that the real destination of the plane was Monrovia. Further information is expected.