COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION (CFSP) 2020/1509

19.10.2020 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 345/8 ---|---|---|--- * * * COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION (CFSP) 2020/1509 of 16 October 2020 implementing Decision 2010/788/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against the Democratic Republic of the Congo THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 31(2) thereof, Having regard to Council Decision 2010/788/CFSP of 20 December 2010 concerning restrictive measures against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and repealing Common Position 2008/369/CFSP (1), and in particular Article 6(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Whereas: (1) | On 20 December 2010, the Council adopted Decision 2010/788/CFSP. ---|--- (2) | On 19 August 2020, the United Nations Security Council Committee established pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1533 (2004) amended the listings for two persons and three entities subject to restrictive measures. ---|--- (3) | Annex I to Decision 2010/788/CFSP should therefore be amended accordingly, ---|--- HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 Annex I to Decision 2010/788/CFSP is hereby amended as set out in the Annex to this Decision. Article 2 This Decision shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Done at Brussels, 16 October 2020. For the Council The President M. ROTH * * * (1) OJ L 336, 21.12.2010, p. 30. * * * ANNEX I. In Annex I to Decision 2010/788/CFSP, Part a) (List of persons referred to in Article 3(1)), the entries for the persons listed below are replaced by the following entries: 29. | Ntabo Ntaberi SHEKA ---|--- Designation: Commander-in-Chief, Nduma Defence of Congo, Mayi Mayi Sheka group. Date of Birth: 4 April 1976. Place of Birth: Walikale, Walikalele territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nationality: Democratic Republic of the Congo. Address: Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (in prison) Date of UN designation: 28 November 2011. Other information: He surrendered to MONUSCO on 26 July 2017 and has been since detained by the Congolese authorities. His trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and participation in an insurrectional movement, before the Military Court in Goma, started in November 2018. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/View- UN-Notices-Individuals Additional information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee: Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, Commander-in-Chief of the political branch of the Mayi Mayi Sheka, is the political leader of a Congolese armed group that impedes the disarmament, demobilization, or reintegration of combatants. The Mayi Mayi Sheka is a Congo-based militia group that operates from bases in Walikale territory in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Mayi Mayi Sheka group has carried out attacks on mines in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, including taking over the Bisiye mines and extorting from locals. Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka has also committed serious violations of international law involving the targeting of children. Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka planned and ordered a series of attacks in Walikale territory from 30 July to 2 August, 2010, to punish local populations accused of collaborating with Congolese Government forces. In the course of the attacks, children were raped and were abducted, subjected to forced labour and subjected to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. The Mayi Mayi Sheka militia group also forcibly recruits boys and holds children in their ranks from recruitment drives. 30. | Bosco TAGANDA ---|--- (alias a) Bosco Ntaganda, b) Bosco Ntagenda, c) General Taganda, d) Lydia (When he was part of APR), e) Terminator, f) Tango Romeo (Call sign ), g) Romeo (Call sign), h) Major) Address: The Hague, Netherlands (as of June 2016). Date of Birth: Between 1973 and 1974. Place of Birth: Bigogwe, Rwanda. Nationality: Democratic Republic of the Congo. Address: The Hague, Netherlands. Date of UN designation: 1 November 2005. Other information: Born in Rwanda, he moved to Nyamitaba, Masisi territory, North Kivu, when he was a child. Nominated FARDC Brigadier-General by Presidential Decree on 11 December 2004, following Ituri peace agreements. Formerly Chief of Staff in CNDP and became CNDP military commander since the arrest of Laurent Nkunda in January 2009. Since January 2009, de facto Deputy Commander of consecutive anti-FDLR operations ‘Umoja Wetu’, ‘Kimia II’, and ‘Amani Leo’ in North and South Kivu. Entered Rwanda in March 2013, and voluntarily surrender to ICC officials in Kigali on March 22. Transferred to the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands. On 9 June 2014, ICC confirmed 13 charges of war crimes and five charges of crimes against humanity against him; the trial started in September 2015. On 8 July 2019, the ICC found him guilty of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed in Ituri in 2002-2003. On 7 November 2019, he was sentenced to a total of 30 years imprisonment. He has appealed both his conviction and sentence. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we- work/Notices/View-UN-Notices-Individuals Additional information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee: Bosco Taganda was the UPC/L military commander, exercising influence over policies and maintaining command and control over the activities of UPC/L, one of the armed groups and militias referred to in paragraph 20 of Res. 1493 (2003), involved in the trafficking of arms, in violation of the arms embargo. He was appointed General in the FARDC in December 2004, but refused to accept the promotion, therefore remaining outside of the FARDC. According to the Office of the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, he was responsible for recruitment and use of children in Ituri in 2002 and 2003, and 155 cases of direct and/or command responsibility for recruitment and use of children in North Kivu from 2002 to 2009. As CNDP Chief of Staff, he had direct and command responsibility for the massacre at Kiwanja in November 2008. Born in Rwanda, he moved to Nyamitaba in Masisi territory of North Kivu province when he was a child. In June 2011, he resided in Goma and owned large farms in Ngungu area of Masisi territory in North Kivu province. He was nominated FARDC Brigadier-General by Presidential Decree on 11 December 2004, following Ituri peace agreements. He was Chief of Staff in the CNDP and then became the CNDP military commander after the arrest of Laurent Nkunda in January 2009. Starting in January 2009, he was de facto Deputy Commander of consecutive anti-FDLR operations Umoja Wetu, Kimia II, and Amani Leo in North and South Kivu provinces. He entered Rwanda in March 2013, voluntarily surrendered to ICC officials in Kigali on March 22 and was subsequently transferred to the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands. On 9 June 2014, the ICC confirmed 13 charges of war crimes and five charges of crimes against humanity against him. The trial started in September 2015. II. In Annex I to Decision 2010/788/CFSP, Part b) (List of entities referred to in Article 3(1)), the entries for the entities listed below are replaced by the following entries: 1. | ADF (ALLIED DEMOCRATIC FORCES) ---|--- (Alias: a) Forces Démocratiques Alliées-Armée Nationale de Libération de l'Ouganda; b) ADF/NALU; c) NALU) Address: North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Date of UN designation: 30 June 2014. Other Information: ADF founder and leader, Jamil Mukulu, was arrested in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in April 2015. He was subsequently extradited to Kampala, Uganda in July 2015. As of June 2016, Mukulu is reportedly being held in a police detention cell awaiting his trial. Seka Baluku succeeded Jamil Mukulu as the overall leader of the ADF. As highlighted in several reports from the UN Group of Experts on the DRC (S/2015/19, S/2015/797, S/2016/1102, S/2017/672, S/2018/531, S/2019/469, S/2019/974, S/2020/482), the ADF, including under Seka Baluku’s leadership, continued to commit the repeated targeting, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, abduction of civilians, including children, as well as attacks on villages and health facilities, in particular in Mamove, Beni territory, on 12 and 24 February 2019, and Mantumbi, Beni territory, on 5 December 2019 and 30 January 2020, as well as the continuous recruitment and use of children during attacks and for forced labour in Beni territory in the DRC since at least 2015. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we- work/Notices/View-UN-Notices-Entities Additional information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee: The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was created in 1995 and is located in the mountainous DRC-Uganda border area. According to the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (‘GoE’) 2013 final report, citing Ugandan officials and UN sources, in 2013 the ADF had an estimated strength of 1 200 to 1 500 armed fighters located in north-east Beni Territory of North Kivu province, close to the border with Uganda. These same sources estimate ADF's total membership — including women and children — to be between 1 600 and 2 500 . Due to offensive military operations by the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) conducted in 2013 and 2014, ADF dispersed its fighters to numerous smaller bases, and moved women and children to areas west of Beni, and along the Ituri-North Kivu border. The ADF's military commander is Hood Lukwago and its supreme leader is the sanctioned individual Jamil Mukulu. The ADF has committed serious violations of international law and UNSCR 2078 (2012), including as detailed below. The ADF has recruited and used child soldiers in violation of applicable international law (UNSCR paragraph 4 (d)). The GoE's 2013 final report stated that the GoE interviewed three former ADF fighters who had escaped during 2013 and who described how ADF recruiters in Uganda lure people to the DRC with false promises of employment (for adults) and free education (for children) and then force them to join the ADF. Also according to the GoE's report, former ADF fighters told the GoE that the ADF's training groups typically include adult men and boys and two boys who escaped from the ADF in 2013 told the GoE that they had received military training from the ADF. The GoE report also includes an account of ADF's training by a ‘former ADF child soldier’. According to the GoE's 2012 final report, the ADF recruits include children, as exemplified by the case of an ADF recruiter who was captured by Ugandan authorities in Kasese with six young boys on his way to the DRC in July 2012. A specific example of the ADF's recruitment and use of children is seen in a 6 January 2009 letter from the former Africa Director for Human Rights Watch, Georgette Gagnon, to Uganda's former Minister of Justice, Kiddhu Makubuyu, stating that a boy named Bushobozi Irumba was abducted at 9 years of age by the ADF in 2000. He was required to provide transport and other services to ADF fighters. In addition, ‘The Africa Report’ cited allegations that the ADF is allegedly recruiting children as young as 10 years of age as child soldiers and cited a Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) spokesperson as stating that the UPDF rescued 30 children from a training camp on Buvuma Island in Lake Victoria. The ADF has also committed numerous violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law against women and children, including killing, maiming, and sexual violence (UNSCR paragraph 4 (e)). According to the GoE 2013 final report, in 2013 the ADF attacked numerous villages, which prompted more than 66 000 people to flee into Uganda. These attacks depopulated a large area, which ADF has since controlled by abducting or killing people who return to their villages. Between July and September 2013, ADF decapitated at least five people in the Kamango area, shot several others, and kidnapped dozens more. These actions terrorized the local population and deterred people from returning home. The Global Horizontal Note, a monitoring and reporting mechanism of grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict, reported to the Security Council's Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) that during the October to December 2013 reporting period, ADF was responsible for 14 of the 18 child casualties documented, including in an incident on 11 December 2013, in Beni territory, North Kivu, when ADF attacked the village of Musuku, killing 23 people, including 11 children (three girls and eight boys), aged 2 months to 17 years. All victims had all been severely mutilated with machetes, including two children who survived the attack. The March 2014 Report of the Secretary General on Conflict Related Sexual Violence identifies the ‘Allied Democratic Forces — National Army for the Liberation of Uganda’ on its list of ‘Parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for rape or other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict.’ The ADF has also participated in attacks against MONUSCO peacekeepers (UNSCR paragraph 4 (i)). Finally, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) reported that ADF has conducted at least two attacks on MONUSCO peacekeepers. The first, on 14 July 2013, was an attack on a MONUSCO patrol on the road between Mbau and Kamango. This attack is detailed in the 2013 GoE final report. The second attack occurred on March 3, 2014. A MONUSCO vehicle was attacked with grenades ten kilometers from the Mavivi airport in Beni, resulting in injuries to five peacekeepers. ADF founder and leader, Jamil Mukulu, was arrested in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in April 2015. He was subsequently extradited to Kampala, Uganda in July 2015. As of June 2016, he is being held in a police detention cell awaiting his trial. 7. | MACHANGA LTD ---|--- Address: Plot 55A, Upper Kololo Terrace, Kampala, Uganda. Date of UN designation: 29 March 2007. Other information: Gold export company (Directors: Mr. Rajendra Kumar Vaya and Mr. Hirendra M. Vaya). In 2010, assets belonging to Machanga, held in the account of Emirates Gold, were frozen by Bank of Nova Scotia Mocatta (UK). The owners of Machanga have remained involved in purchasing gold from eastern DRC. Machanga Ltd last filed an annual return in 2004 and was listed as “status inactive” according to the authorities of the Republic of Uganda. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we- work/Notices/View-UN-Notices-Entities Additional information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee: Machanga bought gold through a regular commercial relationship with traders in the DRC tightly linked to militias. This constitutes ‘provision of assistance’ to illegal armed groups in breach of the arms embargo of resolutions 1493 (2003) and 1596 (2005). Gold export company (Directors: Mr. Rajendra Kumar Vaya and Mr. Hirendra M. Vaya). In 2010, assets belonging to Machanga, held in the account of Emirates Gold, were frozen by Bank of Nova Scotia Mocatta (UK). The previous owner of Machanga, Rajendra Kumar, and his brother Vipul Kumar, have remained involved in purchasing gold from eastern DRC. 9. | UGANDA COMMERCIAL IMPEX (UCI) LTD ---|--- Address: a) Plot 22, Kanjokya Street, Kamwokya, Kampala, Uganda (Tel.: +256 41 533 578/9), b) PO BOX 22 709, Kampala, Uganda. Date of UN designation: 29 March 2007. Other information: Gold export company. (Directors Mr. Jamnadas V. LODHIA — known as ‘Chuni’- and his sons Mr. Kunal J. LODHIA and Jitendra J. LODHIA). In January 2011, Ugandan authorities notified the Committee that following an exemption on its financial holdings, Emirates Gold repaid UCI's debt to Crane Bank in Kampala, leading to final closure of its accounts. The directors of UCI have remained involved in purchasing gold from eastern DRC. Uganda Commercial Impex (UCI) Ltd last filed a return in 2013 and was listed as “Inactive – status inactive” by the authorities of the Republic of Uganda. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/View-UN-Notices-Entities Additional information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee: UCI bought gold through a regular commercial relationship with traders in the DRC tightly linked to militias. This constitutes ‘provision of assistance’ to illegal armed groups in breach of the arms embargo of resolutions 1493 (2003) and 1596 (2005). Gold export company. (Former directors Mr. J.V. LODHIA — known as ‘Chuni’- and his son Mr. Kunal LODHIA). In January 2011, Ugandan authorities notified the Committee that following an exemption on its financial holdings, Emirates Gold repaid UCI's debt to Crane Bank in Kampala, leading to final closure of its accounts. The previous owner of UCI, J.V. Lodhia and his son Kumal Lodhia have remained involved in purchasing gold from eastern DRC. * * *