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Australian Multinational Mining Company, Anvil Ltd, implicated in Congo massacre
APP, BBC & ABC Radio Australia, 6 June 2005
DR Congo's vast mineral wealth can provide big financial rewards
An Australian company has been accused of allowing its trucks and planes to transport Congolese troops, who killed up to 100 rebels in October last year.
Anvil Mining was running a copper and silver mine in Kilwa, in south-west DR Congo, when rebels attacked the town.
Australia's national broadcaster has revealed the brutal way the rebellion was suppressed by the authorities.
Anvil's chief executive Bill Turner said they responded to a request for help from a legitimate government.
When asked by ABC about the use of his company's vehicles by the soldiers he replied: "So what"?
DR Congo is rich in precious minerals, but its people have gained little from this wealth because of war and corrupt government.
Neighbours Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of fuelling the conflict in order to profit from mining operations in the east of the country.
Anvil may face Congo killings probe
Australian company Anvil Mining Limited may have a case to answer over the killing of up to 100 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year, a lawyer has said.
Australian lawyer Richard Meeran, from Slater and Gordon, said Anvil, which says it played no part in the killings, may have a case to answer in Australia.
Armed rebels took the south-eastern town of Kilwa in October last year, prompting Anvil to suspend operations at its copper and silver mine and evacuate some staff.
Congolese forces were flown into the area and regained control of the town before the rebels took over the nearby Dikulushi mine.
ABC's Four Corners program said a secret United Nations investigation into the incident noted the soldiers launched their attack with vehicles provided by Anvil Mining.
Anvil chief executive Bill Turner acknowledged some deaths occurred in the fighting, but said his company played no role in the killings.
"We were not part of this, this was a military action conducted by the legitimate army of the legitimate government of the country," he told Four Corners.
"We helped the military get to Kilwa and we were gone.
"Whatever they did there, that's an internal issue, it's got nothing to do with Anvil."
When asked about the use of Anvil vehicles, Mr Turner replied: "So what?"
But Mr Meeran said Anvil may have a case to answer in Australia.
"If an Australian national assists someone else in committing those crimes then that assistance itself will constitute a crime under Australian national law," he told ABC radio.
© 2005 AAP
The United Nations estimates Kilwa to be more than 100 villagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The attacks occurred in October last year but details have not been made public until now.
ABC TV's Four Corners program tonight reveals how the Anvil Mining company, which operates a mine in the south-east of the war-ravaged country, provided vehicles and other assistance to government troops to quell a rebel uprising in the village of Kilwa, 50 kilometres from its mine.
The company maintains it did nothing wrong.
Eyewitnesses say that on October 14 last year, a small band of rebels took over the police station in the town of Kilwa, then set its sights on Anvil Mining.
The rebels were unhappy with the Australian company they believed was taking multi-million dollar profits from mining silver and copper out of the country, yet was giving little in return to the community that provided its work force.
The rebels got as far as the Anvil depot, looting trucks and stealing fuel and food. Although small on the scale of uprisings witnessed during the Congo's eight-year, bloody civil war, the situation was taken very seriously by the Government of Joseph Kabila.
The resource-rich province of Katanga where the mine is based, is a crucial stronghold for the president and according to United Nations radio, and President Kabila ordered immediate action.
Albert Kitanika is one of several eyewitnesses to the logistical role the company played in the events that followed the uprising.
"We started running but the soldiers caught and searched our belongings, they arrested my dad and two other boys," he said.
"They put the boys into the Anvil mining truck. They came for my dad. I asked them 'where are you taking him?', and they didn't answer.
"They took him 50 metres down the road where they shot and stabbed him to death."
By its own admission, the Anvil Mining company ferried in planeloads of up to 100 government soldiers to quell the unrest.
A secret United Nations investigation into the incident notes that the soldiers "launched their attack with vehicles provided by Anvil Mining".
The rebels surrendered, but the killings of suspected sympathisers began.
The UN investigation identified a mass grave and concluded that "at least 28" of the more than 100 deaths "might have resulted from summary execution".
"In this water, there is seven bodies, just somewhere here there is 12 bodies," human rights monitor Hubert Tshis-waka said.
A local non-government organisation is attempting to hold the Anvil Mining company accountable for the killings and it has recruited the help of Australian law firm Slater and Gordon.
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