The United Nations has accused Albania along with several other countries of sending weapons to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A spokesperson for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said that the claims are “totally untrue”.
While the country is not subject to sanctions, those sending weapons are required to notify the UN as required by a 2004 resolution. A report from UN experts said that several countries have “delivered significant quantities of arms, ammunition, equipment and military vehicles” to the country’s military. These have included civilian helicopters transferred for military use.
The report is confidential but was obtained by the AFP this week.
Other countries named by the UN include Romania, Turkey, South Africa, Israel, China, Iran, the UK, North Korea, Sudan and the United States.
“Over the last decade, a large part of the air logistics of FARDC (the military) relied on a fleet of foreign civilian-registered cargo carriers operating in contravention of international and national civil aviation norms and regulations,” it states.
“Some of the material delivered to FARDC was later diverted to armed groups in eastern” DR Congo, the report continues.
The UN warns that arms being sent to the DR Congo Military are ending up in the hands of militias. The country has been gripped in militia violence for several years and around 1000 people have died, and 500,000 more have fled their homes in the last few months alone.
