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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.
VII. CONCLUSIONS REGARDING WEAPONS AND THE RUF
253. Liberia is actively breaking Security Council embargoes regarding weapons imports into its own territory and into Sierra Leone. It is being actively assisted by Burkina Faso. It is being tacitly assisted by all countries providing such weapons, by countries allowing weapons to pass through or over their territory without question, and by countries providing a base for the aircraft used in such operations.
254. The registration of aircraft in Liberia is clearly connected to illegal activities that go beyond the economic rationale for the offshore registration of aircraft or crews. The use of registrations bought in Liberia on an ad-hoc basis and for short periods, without inspection of the plane or its operators, is clearly intended to circumvent the identification of planes that are used for illicit purposes. Victor Bout, Sanjivan Ruprah, Leonid Minin and Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed bin Saqr al Nayhan are key to such illicit practices, in close collaboration with the highest authorities in Liberia.
255. In summary, the RUF is able to obtain large quantities of arms, military equipment and related matériel as a result of the following key factors:
- the purchasing power it derives from the sale of conflict diamonds;
- the willingness of some major arms producing countries to sell weapons with disregard as to the final users;
- the willingness of some countries to provide their end-user certificates and/or to facilitate the safe passage of weapons through their territory;
- the largely unregulated activity of international arms brokers and their intermediaries;
- corruption;
- the inability of Sierra Leone and its neighbours to monitor and control their airspace;
- Liberia's interest in destabilizing its neighbours.