Kinshasa — A group of UN experts said it had evidence that a sanctioned Congolese military officer owns gold mining operations in the northeast of the country, contravening the country’s mining code. Tax officials, mine workers and dredge owners told the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo that Maj-Gen Gabriel Amisi Kumba owns dredges that are mining gold on the Awimi River in Tshopo province, the group said in a report published on the UN’s website on Sunday. The group also collected testimony that the management of La Conquete, a company allegedly owned by Amisi, is protected by Congo’s military. Amisi is the Congolese armed forces’ commander of the First Defence Zone, an area that includes the capital, Kinshasa. Last year, the US and the European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes, on Maj-Gen Kumba, citing the role of units under his control in lethal crackdowns on demonstrations by Congolese opposition supporters in January 2015 and September 2016. ...
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