Harare based airline linked to war crimes seeks Kenyan licence

By Lance Guma
25 October 2006

An airline based in Harare that allegedly has links to war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking an operating licence from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). According to a report by The Standard newspaper in Kenya, Avient Aviation of Zimbabwe is among 19 other applicants who were called for public hearings on Monday at the East African School of Aviation. Andrew Smith a former British army officer is the owner of the airline. The report says most of the applicants want to run charter services ‘targeting the high tourism season for tourists.’ The Harare based airline however wants to fly ‘non-scheduled cargo air services from Nairobi to Europe and Dubai.

A recent report by the Sunday Times in London says officials from the airline could face charges over their involvement in the war in the DRC, which killed over three million people. The report accused Avient Aviation of participating in bombing raids, even though their role was only supposed to be logistical. The airline is said to have also provided crews for other aircraft that were involved in military activities. Graham Pelham a former worker with the airline spoke to the Sunday Times and provided most of the testimony for their report. He says ‘Bombs were being dropped from high altitude and there was no accuracy in it. It was blanket bombing.’

Pelham joined Avient as a cover for his investigations with the United Nations. He went to the DRC for the UN, to look at the activities of other companies in the country, but ended up investigating Avient. Pelham uncovered their role in killing innocent civilians on behalf of Joseph Kabila’s army. It’s not clear yet whether the Kenyan authorities will take consideration of these allegations before granting any licences.

Farai Maguwu the Director of the Civic Alliance for Democracy and Governance based at the European University Centre For Peace in Austria says the story shows how Zimbabwe is attracting dodgy businessman from all over the world. The level of lawlessness makes it a prime location for these individuals to base their operations. Maguwu says this is why you have people like John Brendenkamp and Nicholas Van Hoogstraten working in Zimbabwe. Government ministers have been the major beneficiaries of many of these business arrangements. Emerson Mnangagwa for example has in the past been implicated by UN reports in the plunder of mineral resources in the DRC and some of these deals are made possible via the use of internationally recognised criminals.