UK freezes £580m in DRC assets held by militias, army officers and private organisations
Dakar — The British government has said it has frozen £580m ($803m) in assets held by several dozen militia leaders, army officers and private organisations with ties to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DMR). The freezes were mandated by the EU as part of a sanctions regime imposed by the UN. They represent a hefty sum in the DRC, which has an annual GDP of about $30bn and a budget of $5bn. The figure was published on the UK parliament website on Monday by economic secretary John Glen in response to an MP’s question about sanctions imposed on the DRC. His answer gave the total sum of seized assets but no details of the assets themselves. Still, it provided a rare window into the scale of illicit financial activity in the DRC that international powers have targeted as they try to ratchet up pressure on President Joseph Kabila to step down from power.
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