Free Republic

UN cuts details of Western profiteers from Congo report By Declan Walsh in Nairobi 27 October 2003 A controversial section has been omitted from a UN report on the plunder of wealth in the Democratic Republic of Congo due out this week. Senior UN officials objected to part of the report by a UN panel investigating the illegal exploitation of Congo's wealth, fearing it could derail the peace process. Sources say the section includes details on how shady networks of business and military figures, some tied to the governments of Rwanda and Uganda, are continuing illegally to export gold, diamonds...

John Bredenkamp, controversial Zimbabwean businessman, has disappeared from the list of Britain's wealthiest people. The tycoon, who first made his fortune in the tobacco industry, and now has business interests in sports management and tourism (and also alleged to have a stake in Congo diamond mines and arms dealing) appeared on both the 2001 and 2002 lists, published annually by the Sunday Times. In 2001, he was ranked as the 48th wealthiest person in Britain. The Sunday Times estimated his wealth then at £550m. He was said to be wealthier than Madonna, to have accumulated more money than music impresario...

Masowe, Zimbabwe Frankly, I am a bit nervous. Someone has said I'll get killed, looking all white and foolish out here in Mashonaland, and I am beginning to see why. We're only a couple of hundred yards away from the thugs wielding pipes, swords and guns who have been persecuting the local farmers. Three weeks ago, they bludgeoned one of the workers to death. Then they attacked Tommy Bayley, a farmer, and tried to throw him on to a fire. And now the idea is that we will go up to their picket line and see if they will let...