Iran and the Congo's Vanishing Uranium Bars (Michel Chossudovsky)
Déjà Vu?
Are we dealing with a similar fabricated Psyop in the case of the alleged missing Congo uranium bars, which could at some later date be used as a pretext directed against Iran?
by Michel Chossudovsky
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Global Research, March 11, 2000
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A mysterious Congo vanishing uranium bars incident has emerged, coinciding with a decisive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of governors meeting in Vienna March 5-8, regarding Iran's nuclear program.
According to Kinshasa's Le Phare newspaper (March 7), "more than 100 bars of uranium as well as an unknown quantity of uranium contained in helmet-shaped cases, had disappeared from the nuclear centre in Kinshasa as part of a vast trafficking [operation]" (Le Phare, 8 March 2007, Le Phare, 7 March 2007) The IAEA is also said to be "investigating the situation." While the names of the alleged buyers were not revealed, the evolving consensus within the Western media, based on an "authoritative" August 2006 Sunday Times report, which is quoted profusely in syndicated press reports, is that Tehran might be behind the uranium smuggling operation. Iraq, Iran, Niger, The Congo, yellow cake, missing uranium 238 bars. A feeling of déjà vu. Remember the Niger uranium yellow cake, which was used as a pretext to wage war on Iraq. Ironically, while Professor Lumu was arrested on March 6 for alleged smuggling of uranium 238 (natural uranium) in Kinshasa, back in the United States, on the same day, former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to the Niger "yellow cake" operation. According to U.S. media reports, Bush's adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were also involved. Déjà Vu? Are we dealing with a similar fabricated Psyop in the case of the alleged missing Congo uranium bars, which could at some later date be used as a pretext directed against Iran? Last August, at the height of Israel's criminal bombing of Lebanon during which radioactive bunker buster bombs were dropped on civilians, Britain's Sunday Times, citing a UN source dated July 18, 2006, reported that uranium 238 had been smuggled out of the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo. According to Tanzanian customs officials quoted by the Sunday Times, the shipment was "destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas." The radioactive shipment had apparently been intercepted in Dar Es Salaam in October of 2005 "during a routine check." According to the Sunday Times report entitled "Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa," "there is no doubt" that huge quantities of uranium 238 were smuggled out of the Congo. In the same article, the Sunday Times asserts, without evidence, that Iran supported terror cells in the UK which "may be prepared to mount attacks against nuclear power plants in Britain. Intelligence circulating in Whitehall suggests that sleeper cells linked to Tehran have been conducting reconnaissance at some nuclear sites in preparation for a possible attack." (emphasis added)
According to the Sunday Times: "The disclosure will heighten western fears about the extent of Iran's presumed nuclear weapons program and the strategic implications of Iran's continuing support for Hezbollah during the war with Israel." The Sunday Times alleged "Iran connection" relied on a July 18, 2006 UN Letter from the Chairman of the Security Council Committee, which it selectively misquoted and distorted. The quoted UN document and report of the Group of Experts on the DRC, while analysing the smuggling of uranium, does not even mention Iran. (United Nations Security Council, See section C of the Report of the Group of Experts, 18 July 2006, pdf) With regard to the report quoting Tanzanian customs officials, the shipment pertained to a relatively small amount of uranium ore (100 kg which contains about 70 grams of fissile U-235) bound for land-locked Kazakhstan via the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas: “The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port.” (Sunday Times, op cit) The UN Letter dated 18 July 2006 from the Chairman of the Security Council Committee, acknowledges incidents of smuggling over a six year period in and around Kinshasa as well as in relation to seized consignments by the Tanzanian authorities. But the UN document states that no information was provided by the Tanzanian authorities regarding the quantities involved. (United Nations Security Council, 18 July 2006, op cit. See also armscontrolwonk.com ) With regard to the alleged North Korean connection, there was a delegation of North Korean engineers in 1999. But there was no follow-up due to pressure exerted on Kinshasa by Washington as confirmed in an earlier London Times report. (27 March 2004). Brinkley Mining Uranium mining and exploration in the DRC (which contains significant untapped resources) is, in practice, under the control of Western corporate capital. The underlying relationship is not with Iran but with a UK registered Anglo-South African mining company: Brinkley Mining PLC with a subsidiary in the Seychelles. (Uranium Reserves in Africa) The Anglo-South African conglomerate Lonrho Africa owns ten percent of Brinkley. While the principal shareholder of Brinkley is Australia's Atomaer, Brinkley is headed by Gerard Holden who is Joint Executive Chairman of Lonrho Africa PLC. In 2006, the nuclear energy center headed by Professor Fortunat Lumu entered into a far-reaching agreement with Brinkley Mining. Under this agreement, Brinkley is "to develop and advise on all uranium assets in the DRC." (brinkley-mining.com) Brinkley Mining PLC acknowledged in a report released on the 7th of March that it "it made a loss for the year to Dec 31, 2006 of 2.747 mln stg," Brinkley stocks initially dipped momentarily on March 7th by approximately 20 percent. However, despite the financial report coupled with the announcement of the arrest of Fortunat Lumu, the price of Brinkley shares on the London Stock Exchange skyrocketed (March 8th, 50 percent increase in relation to its low value on 7 March, 2007). (see graph below). Source : LSE Meanwhile, another prominent member of the Neocon inner team, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz arrived in Kinshasa on the 8th of March. Following a meeting with DRC President Joseph Kabila, Wolfowitz announced a 1.4 billion dollar financial support to the DRC's post-war reconstruction. While formally tagged to poverty alleviation programs, part of this World Bank money will be used to support Anglo-American and South African mining interests in the Congo.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and DRC President Joseph Kabila Undercover Network On Friday the 9th of March, coinciding with Paul Wolfowitz' official visit, the DRC government, without explicitly referring to Brinkley Mining PLC, announced that it had "dismantled an undercover network that was trying to illegally sell uranium to companies registered in Britain, South Africa and the Seychelles." (Associated Press, 9 March, emphasis added). Congo's Minister of Scientific Research, Sylvanus Mushi Bonane, accused Professor Fortunat Lumu and his associate of creating "fictitious companies to sell uranium" and that they had been arrested yellow-handed:
There was no mention of Iran in the official communiqué. In fact quite the opposite: the government was pointing its finger at an Anglo-South African conglomerate. According to Le Phare, the arrest of Fortunat Lumu bears a relationship to the dealings of Brinkley Mining, which had been granted exclusive rights over DRC uranium exploration and extraction.
Gerard Holden, chairman of Brinkley Mining Media Disinformation The Daily Telegraph's coverage of the evolving DRC uranium scandal, takes on a familiar line: while it has "not been proven" that Iran is behind it, there have been "a series of allegations" implicating both Iran and the Sicilian Mafia:
While the July 2006 UN report refers to the Italian mafia, Iran is not mentioned. (See United Nations Security Council op cit)
The BBC in a report entitled "DR Congo 'uranium ring smashed' quotes the Minister of Scientific Research Mr Mushi Bonane,
In a bitter irony, this report by the BBC is refuted by the BBC's African correspondent Arnaud Zajtman, (BBC Afrique in French), which provides the "missing details". Reporting from Kinshasa, Zajtman quotes the same statement of the Minister of Scientific Research Mr Mushi Bonane.
They are also accused of corruption:
Where is the Iran connection? Or is it a UK Connection?
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Global Research Articles by Michel Chossudovsky |
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© Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2007 LINK: Global Research |
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CreatedThursday, March 15, 2007
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Last modifiedWednesday, November 06, 2013
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