Hello,
Here's something to make your day. On the 15th. of June 2000, Ebrima
Ceesay forwarded a mail [see the mail in question in your mailbox; I have
searched the List archives and forwarded for members perusal!] from one of
his sources that Jammeh's aircraft might be a Soviet made aircraft and
country of origin might be Central African Republic. At the time not much was
made of this. Or rather there was no follow up story or investigations to it.
Or so we think.
However, I can inform members that the Financial Times might have
stumbled and unearthed unwittingly a link between Jammeh and the notorious
Russian arms and diamond dealer Victor Anatolevic Bout vis-a-vis Jammeh's
aircraft. Of course the FT is not yet aware of this goldmine they have
unwittingly stumbled on. Well, that is about to be changed.
Indeed, the FT has been running a three day special investigation on
diamond and arms trafficking in areas of Africa ridden with civil conflicts.
And the question of Jammeh's aircraft unwittingly came up without a direct
reference to the latter. It is my view and all my instincts tell me that this
is something to link Jammeh to wider conspiracies of trafficking in weapons
and other assorted illegal trades in the Subregion.
Please see attached below, the FT story itself. Well, investigations on the
puzzle continue. Those of you who can piece the puzzle together should write
to me in private if you prefer anonymity or on the other hand engage the
forum in the demystification of the enigma that is Jammeh's relationship with
shadowy underworld figures like the Russian Victor Anatolevic Bout.
Ebrima Ceesay here is a golden opportunity for your sources to complete
piecing together the puzzle they have started unravelling.
In the mean time, watch this space for any updates. Or visit the link below
to the FT.COM where there is a comprehensive report and a forum on arms and
diamond trafficking Africa.
Hamjatta Kanteh
**************************************************************************
SPECIAL REPORT: Revealed: ex-Soviet officer turns sanctions buster
Financial Times, Jul 10, 2000, 691 words
In the murky world of arms trafficking, a Russian national has established
himself as a premier player in Africa.
Victor Anatolevic Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, has "a
stranglehold on sanctions-busting aerial freight", according to a western
intelligence official.
He has been accused by the US, UK and South Africa of supplying arms to
Unita, the Angolan rebel movement, despite a UN embargo. Unita has bought
weapons with the proceeds of illicit diamond sales.
Bout, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, has a fleet of old Soviet
aircraft that have prompted investigations in at least four countries.
Each time he is subjected to scrutiny, he moves his freight operations
elsewhere.
The Financial Times has established that Interpol, the international police
intelligence gathering organisation, has now opened a file on Bout. He is
also under investigation in a number of western countries.
The authorities in the UAE are increasingly concerned about Air Cess, Bout's
main company, which employs about 100 mainly Russian nationals at its
operations office in Sharjah.
Officials at Sharjah civil aviation authority and Sharjah airport authority
are worried that while Air Cess is not operating illegally within the UAE, it
may be breaking the law outside the country.
"What are these people doing?" said Sayid Mohamed el Hajri, deputy chairman
of the Sharjah civil aviation authority. "We have to protect our airport from
any hanky panky. Air Cess has to obey the law."
Bout gives the impression of leading a double life; he shelters his
clandestine work behind legitimate activities. For example, in March this
year Air Cess flew UN peacekeepers from Pakistan to East Timor. In the same
month the UN alleged Bout was involved in Angolan sanctions busting.
Bout also appears to have some friends in high places. Two years ago he was
invited to a royal wedding in Swaziland; Bout gave the married couple an
antique silver candlestick worth R35,000 (Dollars 5,000).
Bout, 33, was an air force officer until the break up of the Soviet Union.
"His regiment was disbanded and essentially they went private," said the
western intelligence official. "It started with gun running to Afghanistan
and then they discovered Africa."
UN observers in Angola spotted two of Bout's aircraft landing in Unita
territory on at least 10 occasions between October 1997 and January 1998.
The UN Fowler report in March said Air Cess had transported arms from
Bulgaria to Togo on at least one occasion since 1997.
It accused Togo of forwarding weapons to Unita despite the imposition of UN
sanctions in 1993 prohibiting the sale of arms to Unita.
Bulgaria has admitted to the UN that Bout visited the country between 1995
and 1999; last year he went to six weapons factories in the country.
The authorities in Belgium looked at Bout as part of an investigation in 1996
into allegations that Ostend airport had been used for illegal arms
shipments. In 1997 Air Cess, then registered in Liberia, closed its Ostend
office.
Bout then created a new air freight company in South Africa called Air Pass.
The authorities in South Africa began an investigation into Air Pass that
culminated in the company being charged with 146 breaches of civil aviation
law in 1998.
A former Air Pass official said a regular visitor to the office was Imad
Kabir, a Lebanese arms dealer who the UN alleged was Unita's main weapons
broker between 1995 and 1999.
The official said Bout would treat Kabir, who was always surrounded by
bodyguards, with exceptional deference.
Air Cess supported Air Pass through bank transfers. However, Bout would often
bring Dollars 250,000 in cash to Air Pass's office in supermarket bags and
place it in a safe.
South Africa alerted neighbouring Swaziland's civil aviation authority about
a number of aircraft that Bout had registered in the country.
Swaziland grounded 43 aircraft operated by five companies including Air Cess
and Air Pass in May 1998 because of inadequate documentation. A year later,
40 aircraft were deleted from Swaziland's register of civil aircraft.
Meanwhile, Bout set up Centrafricain Airlines in the Central African Republic
in 1998. Some of the aircraft operated by the company were previously
registered in Swaziland.
In March a Bangui tribunal sentenced Bout to two years in prison in his
absence after an Ilyushin 62 belonging to Centrafricain Airlines, but using
the markings of the country's state-owned airline, flew to Gabon.
The authorities in the CAR subsequently discovered the aircraft had
inadequate documentation.
The FT made repeated attempts to interview Bout. His brother Sergei Bout, who
is responsible for Air Cess's daily operations, said from the UAE: "Perhaps
Victor has gone on holiday. I am not responsible for the situation. It may be
a big joke by the UN."
Copyright © The Financial Times Limited
We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to
tolerate the intolerant.
Karl Popper 1902-1994
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