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Gen Saleh
declares foreign accounts
Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh By Alfred Wasike Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh (left) has bared his bank accounts to the United Nations, and is seeking audience with the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan following accusations that he was involved in the illegal exploitation of the mineral wealth of the DR Congo. A 59-page report now being discussed by the United Nations Security Council recommends travel bans, frozen accounts and other harsh sanctions against Saleh (Caleb Akandwanaho) and others implicated in the plunder. "I have sent my foreign accounts to Adonia Ayebare (the First Secretary at Uganda's mission to the UN) for transmission to the UN," an angry Saleh said on Saturday, while answering questions from Capital Gang host Robert Kabushenga, on Capital Radio. "I have accounts in London and Geneva," Saleh went on. "I can assure the world that they don't hold more than $10,000. "I am not like Mobutu; I don't have property in Europe. Let them confiscate it if they find it. "If you want my accounts in Uganda, I will give them to you; I am not a looter like The Monitor claims. I am even facing bankruptcy - Check with NPART, dfcu and other banks. "I am happy because I invest in people. I want them to freeze my accounts and inherit my debts," he added sarcastically. On allegations by the same report that he was training a secret paramilitary force, Saleh laughed. "I have done a lot of work in the Congo. My work is not always in the public... I have been dealing with the Kinshasa government for the last 14 months. I am working to help return, to Kinshasa, soldiers who don't want to fight. They are assembled at Namboole. They will be airlifted home next week. Go and check on them." About claims that he looted diamonds and other wealth from the DRC, Saleh said, "I have never done anything like that. But why should Antwerp be the diamond market of the world when they don't even have a mine? As Africans we should be selling our own diamonds and other resources." On travel bans, he said, "If I can be able to travel in my country Uganda freely, I don't have to travel anywhere else. I was born to struggle and I'll keep on struggling till my dreams come true." CMI boss Col. Noble Mayombo dismissed the UN report. "I challenge the content of that report. It is very unrealistic." Minister Kahinda-Otafiire said, "I was not trading at all so the whole thing is very stupid. Those so-called experts should show us what they mean. Who was I trading with? Can they prove that I sold fuel in Congo? This is absolute nonsense and imagination. That is a lousy novel." Published on: Sunday, 27th October, 2002 The Mulindwas
communication group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" |
