[allAfrica.com] [Africa_2005] UN Experts, ICG Lied - Analyst The New Times (Kigali) NEWS July 10, 2005 Posted to the web July 12, 2005 By James Munyaneza Kigali A recently-released report has accused a UN Panel of Experts for reporting falsehoods to the UN Security Council half a year ago, that Rwanda was behind last year's military mutiny in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The fifteen-page report by a prominent American intelligence analyst and database expert, William Church, dismisses both the July 2004 and January 2005 Experts' reports, as products of 'unprofessional investigation methodologies contrary to the established Evidentiary Standards'. In the report, a copy of which The New Times obtained, Church says, the Panel members misrepresented and omitted material information to support their intended conclusions. Church, an international consultant with nearly 40 years of experience, accuses the Panel for basing their report on insufficient and partial information that the Rwandan military assisted the then Congolese uprising leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda in a recruitment exercise of Congolese refugees in the UNHCR transit camp in Cyangugu on 18th June, 2004. "The Experts omitted two material pieces of information that change the context of this alleged recruitment. First, the Experts were aware that (a group of Congolese) combatants had been reported by UNHCR staff and it was necessary to identify the combatants and remove them from the refugee population. "It is the obligation of the Rwandan government to assist in this activity; therefore, that was the stated purpose of Rwandan military in the camp and the removal of some 30 young men. The omission of this information builds a stronger case for recruitment," reads part of the report. It adds: "The Experts give the impression that the young men were held for a period of time and only after protests, did they return the young men. The consultant's investigation shows that all but two young men were returned by the end of the same day. "In addition, information in the archive reveals that the source of this reported recruitment was not three independent sources and there is no record of the Experts interviewing local Rwanda authorities to follow up on these allegations." In the July 2004, the panel had charged, "Some of the young men interviewed by the Group of Experts described having been taken to a police compound and then to a Rwandan military compound, where they were asked to enter into military service on behalf of Mutebutsi's forces inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "Those interviewed believed that they were being forced into service and were returned to the UNHCR transit camp only after UNHCR and family members had exerted pressure on the Rwandan authorities to release them." But Church, who was a database expert for the UN Experts during the investigation, says the Experts did not gather evidence from at least three credible sources to conform to the standards. His report concurs with the findings of earlier findings by Greg Mthembu Salter, a respected writer and analyst on the region working for the Small Arms Survey in Geneva, which also questioned the authenticity of the Experts' July report. In his September 2004 report, titled 'The Wheel Turns Again: Militarisation and Rwanda's Congolese Refugees', Salter wrote, "The UNHCR has confirmed the incident, adding that all but two of the men came back to Nyagatare (camp). The RDF has insisted that the incident was not recruitment but was instead the result of a screening exercise in Nyagatare, which uncovered that a few of Mutebutsi's men were hiding among them, who were then moved to Ntendezi. "According to UNHCR staff, this might be correct, and they add that since this incident, they have no credible evidence that military recruitment has taken place inside Nyagatare (camp)." Church also said he did not find any evidence of another alleged recruitment in Kiziba transit camp in Kibuye province of Congolese youth especially students, a charge also raised by the Experts in both the July and January reports. "Experts give the impression in their report that the total number of secondary school pupils who left the camp as part of a military recruitment was 129. In reality, 11 of the students left before the arrival of Nkunda at the camp and only 62 students during the month of August were identified as "interrogues au subject des rumeurs d'enrolement de leur fils par l'armee les parents allegment d'une reinscription on RDC suite aux exigencies des cirricula d'enseignement au Rwanda," reads part of the report. It adds, "During the month of May, the month immediately following the Nkunda visit, there is no record of any students leaving the camp. In June, two students left for the reason "d'une reinscription on RDC suite aux exigencies des cirricula d'enseignement au Rwanda" and one student left for sickness. In July, only two students left of which one was for sickness and the other to return to the DRC for education." "Once again the Experts resort to misrepresentation by giving the impression these students were part of the recruitment process but the UNHCR record clearly shows they left for valid reasons and were not part of the recruitment investigation." The intelligence consultant also questioned the Experts' allegation that Rwanda kept a military presence in the Congo. He dismissed their January 2005 assertions that they gathered sufficient evidence from "doctors, hospital staff and soldiers interviewed (that) approximately 30 Rwandan military personnel were being treated in two hospitals in Goma." "The consultant was able to review the original Expert field report citing this information and determined the Expert field report states they were not able to interview the suspected Rwandan soldiers. According to the field report this allegation was built around a single source that developed a very common assumption in North Kivu that a person born in Rwanda and found in uniform in the DRC must be a member of the Rwandan military," Church's report states in part. "The soldiers were reportedly wounded in the area north of Goma, which is the area that fighting between government forces and with the FDLR has been verified and it would not be unusual for a soldier in these forces to be a Rwandan national. Second, reports of Rwandan military in Goma and in the area of Goma are common. In most cases, including the many cases investigated by this consultant, they are found to be Rwandan nationals but not in the Rwandan army. The report further accuses the Experts relying on inadequate information to report in January that several RDF trucks crossed to Congo through the Gisenyi border on 2nd December last year. "Since this is a non-onsite observation by the Experts, it has the standard of being developed from three credible independent sources. This reported incident has been researched at MONUC Military Information in Kinshasa and they find no reported incident of a Rwandan military truck convoy crossing and MONUC Military Information was very much alert during this period and was regularly deploying their full array of information assets," it says. The report further states, "There are two crossings at Gisenyi--the Petite Barriere and the Grande Barriere, which leads to the center of Goma but the Experts, do not state which crossing. It would be reasonable to expect that, if it had been observed, this important fact would not have been omitted." The expert also takes swipe at the International Crisis Group (ICG) for publishing unsubstantiated reports that "MONUC troops intercepted a truck that was smuggling weapons into the Congo from Rwanda, allegedly for use by (Congolese) North Kivu Governor Eugene Serufuli". The accusation, which ICG attributed to an alleged 22nd April 2005 interview with a MONUC official, was contained in the Group's 12th May 2005 report titled, "The Congo: Solving the FDLR Problem Once and For All." But The New Times has obtained some correspondences written by MONUC officials denying the alleged intercept. "I don't understand why if your expert saw the convoy, he would also offer conformation from another source. I cannot comment on the reliability of your people, obviously, but I definitely have no proof of this. Had I got definite reports I would have flagged it up for immediate action in NY (New York) and here," reads the 10th January 2005 message by MONUC Chief Military Information Officer Lt. Col. Mike Shearman. And in another electronic mail to MONUC dated 26th June, 2005, a copy of which was also obtained by The New Times, Church wrote in part: "My organisation has investigated and has found that the truck was not intercepted by MONUC not the Congolese custom officials, and this rumour was investigated by the Kinshasa government and not confirmed. In addition, we have a statement by the MONUC liaison in Kigali that says there is no report of a MONUC intercept of this truck." Church also gives a personal account of the story as a person who was in the DRC at the time of the alleged incursion. "I was in Goma during late November 2004 working for the UN and handled military liaison with the Experts. In other words my job was to research these issues and pass them to the Experts for investigation. There were no reports of Rwandan trucks crossing the border in that period nor where there reports of trucks cited on their way north to where the fighting erupted. "I read every MILOB report for that period and can confirm that there is no proof of the invasion. In addition, the Joint Verification Team looked for proof and they could not find any but they did state they saw Interahamwe and FDLR in the area," he told The New Times last week.   ==============================================================================  Copyright © 2005 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ==============================================================================