Australian mining company denies involvement in DRCongo massacre

SYDNEY – An Australian mining company yesterday denied complicity in the massacre last year of more than 100 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as victims of the alleged atrocity threatened civil action against the company.

Perth-based Anvil Mining admitted providing air and land vehicles to transport DRC forces rushing to quell a rebel uprising last October at Kilwa, in the country’s southwest, about 50 kilometres from its Dikulushi copper and silver mine. But it said suggestions in an ABC television report that it was implicated in the subsequent loss of life were “deplorable and without foundation”.”The DRC military requested access to Anvil’s air services and vehicles to facilitate troop movements in response to rebel activity,” the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.”Anvil had no option but to agree to the request, made by the military and the lawful government of DRC, as any other company would have done in similar circumstances.”The ABC reported that a small group of rebels took over Kilwa police station last October, then moved onto Anvil’s depot, where they looted trucks and stole food.It said the United Nations estimated more than 100 people died in the subsequent military crackdown, with up to 28 suspected of being summarily executed.Anvil’s statement said that while it provided transport to DRC troops, it had no knowledge of what was planned by the military and took no part in the operation.Aid agency Oxfam’s executive director Andrew Hewett said the deaths could have been avoided had Anvil adhered to international human rights standards.”Blind Freddy can see that companies should not be lending transport to armies that have a track record of human rights violations,” Hewett told Australian Associated Press.”A lot of people might still be alive if Anvil hadn’t, by its own admission, assisted the army in a brutal crackdown.”Melbourne legal firm Slater and Gordon said it was considering civil action against Anvil on behalf of three Congolese people affected by the massacre, including one woman whose two sons were killed.- Nampa-AFPBut it said suggestions in an ABC television report that it was implicated in the subsequent loss of life were “deplorable and without foundation”.”The DRC military requested access to Anvil’s air services and vehicles to facilitate troop movements in response to rebel activity,” the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.”Anvil had no option but to agree to the request, made by the military and the lawful government of DRC, as any other company would have done in similar circumstances.”The ABC reported that a small group of rebels took over Kilwa police station last October, then moved onto Anvil’s depot, where they looted trucks and stole food.It said the United Nations estimated more than 100 people died in the subsequent military crackdown, with up to 28 suspected of being summarily executed.Anvil’s statement said that while it provided transport to DRC troops, it had no knowledge of what was planned by the military and took no part in the operation.Aid agency Oxfam’s executive director Andrew Hewett said the deaths could have been avoided had Anvil adhered to international human rights standards.”Blind Freddy can see that companies should not be lending transport to armies that have a track record of human rights violations,” Hewett told Australian Associated Press.”A lot of people might still be alive if Anvil hadn’t, by its own admission, assisted the army in a brutal crackdown.”Melbourne legal firm Slater and Gordon said it was considering civil action against Anvil on behalf of three Congolese people affected by the massacre, including one woman whose two sons were killed.- Nampa-AFP