Malik:
I don't know how Mr. Jobe's ban affect his status as a NAM, however this
should act as reference in putting the seriousness of the matter at hand in
perspective.  This is culled from the UN report which led to the travel bans
being imposed on some of these folk, who were engaged in business with
despicable foreign nationals who profited off the blood and misery of
Africans to enrich themselves though arms and diamond trafficking.


The Gambia New Millennium air incident. In January 2000, the President of the
Central African Republic traveled to the Agenda 2000 summit of African heads
of State in Libreville, Gabon. When the presidential delegation arrived in
Libreville, they were congratulated for a beautiful aircraft standing at the
airport. The plane, an Ilyushin-62, carried the registration number
TL-ACL.283. It also carried the flag of the Central African Republic and
"CentrafricanAirlines" was written in bold letters on the plane. The
authorities in Gabon thought it was a new acquisition of the Central African
Republic's President. The President, however, had never heard of such a
plane, and upon inspection it seemed another official delegation from Gambia
had arrived in this particular aircraft. Because of the embarrassing
situation, an investigation was carried out by the Ministry of Transport and
the Prosecutor of the Central African Republic, in cooperation with ASECNA,
the African air navigation and safety organization. The investigation
discovered two documents that had allowed the plane to operate, a "Temporary"
Certificate of Registration and an Airworthiness Certificate.These documents
were forged and had been issued and signed by Armand Fulbert Doungovo, the
Director of Civil Aviation of the Central African Republic. On 24 January
2000, the investigating authorities ordered the immediate arrest of Mr.
Doungovo, Mr. Bout and the local manager of Centrafrican Airlines, Mr.
Bouroukine. The Director General of Civil Aviation was ordered to conduct
amore thorough investigation, and on 14 February 2000 a Ministerial Decree
put an end to all the activities of the company Centrafrican Airlines in the
Central African
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--


 The Panel verified that the offices of Centrafrican in Bangui were indeed
closed and are now used by the company Sudan Airways. It remains unclear why
the other shareholder of Centrafrican, the Belgian pilot Ronal De Smet, who
has been along-time partner of Victor Bout, was not indicted in this case.
The Director General of Civil Aviation had earlier tried to obtain
information from Director Doungovo on his relationship with Centrafrican
Airlines. A letter sent to Doungovo dated 22 June 1999, shows the Director
General's suspicion was raised when he discovered that the Director was
travelling abroad to negotiate traffic rights as a representative of the
company, Centrafrican Airlines. The incident in Gabon,however, had
accelerated things.

Massive fraud
This investigation showed that Mr. Doungovo and Victor Bout had fabricated
airworthiness certificates, air operator permits and certificates of
registration for a great number of aircraft. Most of these had earlier been
deregistered in the Kingdom of Swaziland, where Victor Bout and his partners
had set up a similar scheme.Before that, Mr. Bout's planes had been
registered in Liberia.. The Gambia New Millennium plane had been bought by a
Gambian a few weeks before the Gabon incident. A copy of the sales agreement
shows that the seller was Victor Bout, General Manager of Centrafrican
Airlines. The buyer was Gambia New Millennium Air, represented by Mr. Baba
Jobe. The bank details show that the final beneficiary of the transaction was
the holder of an account at the Standard Chartered Bank, Sharjah branch. This
account with number 01-5624312-01is of the Transavia Travel Agency, another
company of Victor Bout. The Panel was able to interview Mr. Baba Jobe in
Banjul, Gambia, in September 2001. Meanwhile, the aircraft has changed
registration and is now legally registered in Gambia. Mr. Jobe, who is a
civil servant and close adviser of the Gambian President, denied knowing
Victor Bout. He said he had never heard of that man and had dealt with a Mr.
Hajazi, a Lebanese citizen who acted as a representative of Libya. The plane
was considered a gift to the Gambian President and not to Baba Jobe, nor had
the Gambian authorities been aware that the aircraft had been involved in a
case of fraud in the Central African Republic. Some suspicion exists on the
activities of Mr. Baba Jobe, first of all because the Paneldoes have a copy
of the sales agreement showing both his and Bout's signatures. Also, among
Mr. Jobe's acquaintances are Ibrahim Bah, one of the RUF rebels whois very
active in the diamond business. Mr. Jobe acknowledged knowing Bah from the
time he had been a student in Libya, where many of the RUF were trained
before the wars in Liberia and later in Sierra Leone. Mr. Jobe stated that it
had been years since he had spoken or seen Ibrahim Bah.

The Civil Aviation Authorities in the Central African Republic found many
more incidents in connection with the fraudulently registered aircraft of
Centrafrican Airlines. In one case, the company had issued a false flight
plan. After inspection, it was also found that all the documents authorizing
the plane to operate were again false. Also, two helicopters belonging to the
company had made emergency landings due to technical problems. Those
helicopters, too, were operating on false documentation. These helicopters
were, in 2001, operating in the rebel areas in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. A flight log obtained from the Ugandan Civil Aviation Authority shows
a landing in Uganda, in November, of a Let-410 aircraft, with the Liberian
registration EL-MLC. The operator was also Centrafrican Airlines.The Panel on
Sierra Leone obtained the complete Liberian aircraft registry in November
2000. The helicopter is not among the aircraft on the lis t, again indicating
a fraudulent use of a registration number.Victor Bout escapes from justice.
When the authorities in Bangui issued a warrant for the arrest of the
Director of Civil Aviation, for the Russian manager of Centrafrican in Bangui
and for Victor Bout, Bout was still in the country, but he managed to escape.
On 16 June 2000,Doungovo, the director of Civil Aviation was convicted with a
year of imprisonment for fraud and forgery. Victor Bout was also charged and
convicted in absentia with two years in prison. The Court in Bangui also
issued an international arrest warrant for him. But subsequently, on 28 June
2000, Bout was acquitted of the charges. The Panel did not get any
information on the circumstances of this acquittal.

The Central African Republic's Civil Aviation Authority noted that despite
the dissolution of the company Centrafrican Airlines in February 2000, the
fraudulently registered aircraft were seen at many airports across Africa and
elsewhere.

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