A leaked United Nations Report casts severe doubt on claims by the Australian mining company, Anvil,

A leaked United Nations Report casts severe doubt on claims by the Australian mining company, Anvil, that it didn't assist in the massacre of a hundred unarmed "rebels" in the Congo last year.

Aussie mining firm's 'conflicting stories' on Congo bloodshed

James Madden, The Australian

September 29, 2005

PERTH-BASED mining company Anvil gave inconsistent accounts of its involvement in a murderous military crackdown in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a UN report.

The document, prepared by the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo and obtained by The Australian, suggests that Anvil representatives provided contradictory statements about their role in the October 2004 uprising, which left more than 100 people dead. The company has admitted that several of its trucks and planes were used to transport troops to Kilwa, a village in the country's southeast where local rebels were active near the Australian company's mine.

During the uprising, company vehicles were allegedly used to transport corpses away from the site. But Anvil has denied any knowledge of what the vehicles were to be used for, claiming in June this year that the trucks and planes were commandeered by the army. However, the UN report claims that "at least three of the company's employees (were used) during the counter-offensive at Kilwa".

It also claims that Anvil employees provided food and money to the army in Kilwa. In an interview earlier this year, Anvil chief executive Bill Turner admitted: "We helped the military to get to Kilwa and then we were gone. Whatever they did there, that's an internal issue." But in a company report published last December, Anvil made no mention of the requisitioning of its vehicles and its employees by the Congolese military.

When quizzed by the UN over the omission, Anvil allegedly claimed that the report was produced prior to the company "having an appreciation of the seriousness of these events".
Last night, an Anvil spokeswoman said there was nothing in the UN report that suggested the company had acted improperly. Richard Meeran, special counsel with Melbourne law firm Slater & Gordon, who is representing three Congolese citizens seeking compensation from Anvil, said what really happened in Kilwa was yet to be resolved. "The real question that has yet to be answered - and needs to be investigated further - is in what circumstances were Anvil's planes and vehicles used by the Congolese military in this massacre," Mr Meeran said.

"If the vehicles were taken by force, Anvil is in the clear. "But if they were handed over willingly, then the picture could be quite different."

The AFP last month launched an investigation into the company's role in the incident.

Tricia Feeney, executive director of non-government organisation RAID, said Anvil's refusal to allow the UN access to its own internal investigative report was a concern. "The alleged sightings of Anvil employees at key moments during the course of the counter-offensive, when grave human rights abuses were allegedly carried out by the Congolese Armed Forces, makes it all the more urgent for Anvil to co-operate," Ms Feeney said.