Seized Sassou Nguesso plane sold at auction for 7.1 million euros
The Falcon 7X of the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, was sold on Tuesday at auction for 7.1 million euros at the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux, after being seized in June 2020 at the airport of the Gironde capital.
This seizure by bailiff, during maintenance work, is part of a long series of legal proceedings initiated for decades by the boss of the company Commisimpex, a Lebanese businessman, against the State of Congo.
The auction of this aircraft produced by Dassault Aviation was ordered by the Bordeaux judicial court in December 2022 and then confirmed in June 2023 by the court of appeal, with an initial price set at seven million euros.
It was led by auctioneer Vincent Pestel-Debord and concluded in a few seconds with the first and only bidder. Remaining anonymous, he has three days to pay the balance of his purchase and will have to remove the livery of the aircraft currently in the colours of the Republic of Congo, indicated Mr Pestel-Debord.
This sale should make it possible to compensate Commisimpex for unpaid public works.
The boss of this company, Mohsen Hojeij, a former close friend of President Sassou Nguesso, had won several contracts between 1983 and 1986: construction of a bridge or a village in particular. But in 1986, after the collapse of oil prices, the economic situation in the Republic of Congo deteriorated and only part of the work was completed.
In 2000 and then in 2013, the International Court of Arbitration in Paris twice ordered Congo to compensate Mr. Hojeij's company.
Over the years, the sum claimed by the businessman has swelled, from around 100 million euros when the dispute began in 1992 to around 1.7 billion euros today.
### "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence", George Washington. ###
National Democratic Congress - Ubutumwa Umuyobozi wa RUD-Urunana Ageza Ku Banyarwanda ku Munsi w'Icyunamo Cyaturutse ku Ntambara y'Ubwicanyi Ndengakamere Yatangijwe na FPR Inkotanyi ku Italiki ya 1 Ukwakira 1990
Ubutumwa Umuyobozi wa RUD-Urunana Ageza Ku Banyarwanda ku Munsi w'Icyunamo Cyaturutse ku Ntambara y'Ubwicanyi Ndengakamere Yatangijwe na FPR Inkotanyi ku Italiki ya 1 Ukwakira 1990
Ubutumwa Umuyobozi wa RUD-Urunana Ageza Ku Banyarwanda ku Munsi w'Icyunamo Cyaturutse ku Ntambara y'Ubwicanyi Ndengakamere Yatangijwe na FPR Inkotanyi ku Italiki ya 1 Ukwakira 1990
National Democratic Congress
UBUTUMWA UMUYOBOZI W'URUNANA RW'ABAHARANIRA UBUMWE NA DEMOKARASI / RALLIEMENT POUR L'UNITE ET LA DEMOCRATIE URUNANA / RALLY FOR UNITY AND DEMOCRACY AGEZA KU BANYARWANDA KU UMUNSI W'ICYUNAMO CYATURUTSE KU NTAMBARA N'UBWICANYI NDENGAKAMERE FPR INKOTANYI YATANGIJE MU RWANDA KU ITALIKI YA MBERE UKWAKIRA 1990.
Banyarwanda, Banyarwandakazi,
Uyu munsi, taliki ya mbere y'Ukwakira 1990, turibuka intambara FPR Inkotanyi yashoje mu Rwanda iturutse muli Uganda. Iyo ntambara niyo yagejeje FPR Inkotanyi ku butegetsi imaze guhitana abanyarwanda benshi ikoze itsembabwoko n'itsembatsemba, aliko FPR Inkotanyi yo ikavuga ko ali jenoside yakorewe abatutsi.
Mw'izina ryanjye no mu izina ry'abo dufatanije muri RUD Urunana (Ralliement pour l'Unité et la Démocratie - Rally for Unity and Democracy - Urunana) na RPR Inkeragutabara duhuriye mw' Ishyirahamwe Riharanira Demokarasi ( Congrès National pour la Démocratie - National Democratic Congress - NDC / CND)ndabasaba ko uyu munsi twafata umunota umwe tukibuka abahitanywe n'iyo ntambara n'ubwo bwicanyi.
Banyarwanda, Banyarwandakazi,
Twibukiranye ko FPR Inkotanyi itera U Rwanda mu ngingo yatangaga ari uko ngo yashakaga kurangiza ikibazo cy'Impunzi, kuzana demokarasi, no gucunga neza ibya rubanda.
Aliko nkuko mubizi, iyo mvugo yari ikinyoma. Nyuma y'uko FPR ifashe ubutegetsi, impunzi zikomoka mu Rwanda zariyongereye kw'isi kandi na n'ubu abanyarwanda bo mu moko yose baracyahunga. Demokarasi ntayo kuko ubutegetsi bufitwe n'umuntu umwe Gen. Paul Kagame, wigize umwami muli Republika. Ibintu byose biri mu Rwanda nk'ubutaka, ibihingwa, amashyamba cyimeza n'ibirimoni ibye; niwe wica agakiza; niwe utekerereza abanyarwanda bose; nta muntu umuvuguruza.
Gucunga neza ibya rubanda ntabyo kuko ibya rubanda ntibibaho. Imitungo ni iya General Paul Kagame n'agatsiko ke katarenze abantu magana abiri. Imitungo kandi yimuriwe mu mahanga nk'i Bulayi, Amerika na Azia.
Urubyiruko nirwo rukoreshwa mu kwiba kuko rushyirwa mu gisilikare noneho rukoherezwa mu bindi bihugu gusahurira agatsiko kari ku butegetsi.
Banyarwanda, Banyarwandakazi,
Icyo Gen. Paul Kagame n'agatsiko ke bagezeho ni ukwemeza amahanga, gakoresheje amafaranga, ko mu Rwanda habaye jenoside yakorewe abatutsi gusa. Hakirengagizwa ko FPR Inkotanyi yaturutse muli Uganda yica abanyarwanda, maze ikabarundanyiriza nk'ahantu ikabasukamo urusasu cyangwase igakoresha udufuni maze imirambo bakayitwikisha lisansi n'ibitunguru.
Ko mu Rwanda habaye jenosidede ntitubihakana ariko nihanavugwe ko habaye na jenoside y'abahutu cyangwa se jenoside y'abanyarwanda aribyo itsembatsemba n'itsembabwoko.
Banyarwanda, Banyarwandakazi,
Kugira ngo Gen Paul Kagame na FPR Inkotanyi bacuruze jenoside yakorewe abatutsi hubatswe inyibutso nyinshi mu gihugu maze igihugu bagihindura inyibutso ari nko kwibutsa abahutu ko bakoze jenoside no kwibutsa abatutsi ko Gen. Paul Kagame adahari abahutu bamara abatutsi.
Iyo abashyitsi basuye U Rwanda abambari ba FPR inkotanyi bihutira kujya kubereka uduhanga n'amagufa bita ko aro ibyo abatutsi yarundanyijwe mu nyibutso. Cyakora twe abanyarwanda ntituyobewe ko utwo duhanga ari utwo abahutu, abatutsi n'abatwa kuko tuzi ko aho Interahamwe zicaga abatutsi ndetse n'abahutu, Inkotanyi zarahageraga zikica zikarunda imirambo hejuru y'imirambo zahasanze.
Banyarwanda, Banyarwandakazi,
Umuco w'ubwicanyi FPR Inkotanyi yazanye mu Rwanda, ikawimurira muri Repubulika ya Demokarasi ya Kongo igiye gusahura, ugomba kurangira.
Mu gihe twibuka uyu munsi, nimureke twiyemeze gushakisha uburyo bwose bushoboka ishyano ryagwiriye U Rwanda ritakongera kubaho. Abatutsi n'Abahutu nibareke imvugo ihembera inzangano hagati y'amoko. Nibamagane amagambo yuzuye ingengabitekerezo ivuga ko hari ubwoko busumba ubundi mu Rwanda.
Abakoresha ibitangazamakuru cyangwa se abari mu mashyaka n'imiryango idafite aho ibogamiye (civil society) nibigishe ubworoherane (tolerance); nibaharanire gushyiraho ubutegetsi bushingiye kuri demokarasi (democracy), ku buringanire imbere y'amategeko (rule of law), bwubahiriza uburenganzira bw'ikeremwamuntu (human rights) kandi bwemerera umuntu kwishakira imibereho (economic freedom). Umunsi ibi twabigezeho tuzunamira inzirakarengane zose nta vangura ry'amoko ribayeho nkuko Gen. Paul Kagame n'agatsiko ke babikora ubu.
Inzirakarengane zose niziruhukire mu mahoro. Imana nizihe iruhuko ridashira.
Imana ituyobore mu bikorwa bifitiye Abanyarwanda bose akamaro.
Bikorewe i Washington, DC, Tariki ya mbere Ukwakira 2023
Dr. Jean-Marie Vianney Higiro
Umuyobozi w'Urunana rw'Abaharanira Ubumwe na Demokarasi (RUD-Urunana)
Rally for Unity and Democracy /Ralliement pour l'Unité et la Démocratie
Rwanda ambassador: Suella Braverman 'absolutely wrong' on immigration | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian
Rwanda ambassador: Suella Braverman 'absolutely wrong' on immigration | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian
The home secretary faces embarrassment after a covert sting operation filmed criticism of UK policy by a top official
Johnston Busingye, high commissioner of Rwanda, backs the UK government's plan to send asylum seekers to his country, but said ministers needed to examine the driving forces of migration. He said it was "immoral" for Britain to claim to be a compassionate country.
The home secretary, Suella Braverman, faces embarrassment over her immigration policy after the ambassador for Rwanda was filmed in an undercover sting claiming the UK government's position is "absolutely wrong".
Johnston Busingye, high commissioner of Rwanda, backs the UK government's plan to send asylum seekers to his country, but said ministers needed to examine the driving forces of migration. He said it was "immoral" for Britain to claim to be a compassionate country.
Busingye was covertly filmed in a meeting in a London club in an investigation by the campaign group Led By Donkeys conducted with the journalist Antony Barnett. The ambassador was told he was meeting a businessman from a south-east Asian company wanting to invest in his country.
The investigation also raises new questions over the government plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and its record on human rights. The court of appeal ruled in June the plan was unlawful and the government has appealed to the supreme court, with a hearing in October.
Busingye appeared to speak dismissively about evidence that 12 refugees were shot dead by police in Rwanda in 2018. He said: "Yes, it might have happened, but so what?" The ambassador said this w eekend in response to questions from the Observer that the fatal shootings in western Rwanda were a tragedy.
During the meeting at the Travellers Club in St James's in August, he was asked what he would say to the prime minister or home secretary about the UK's immigration policy. He responded by saying he would tell them it was "absolutely wrong".
"They should have a long-term idea," he said. "They should have a long-term policy of making it a choice for people not to risk their lives coming to the UK. Because right now, many people are not coming here because of war in their country. No, they're coming here because they are hopeless. They're coming here because they have no future."
He said it was "immoral" for the UK to regard itself as a compassionate country. "[It] is immoral for this country to still see themselves as the refugee country, the solace country, the protection country, the compassion country," he said. "They enslaved millions of people for 400 years. They destroyed India, they destroyed China, they destroyed Africa."
The ambassador seemed perturbed over the media coverage of the fatal shootings of Congolese refugees protesting outside a UN high commissioner for refugees office in the Karongi district over cuts to food rations in February 2018.
He said: "Well, there is an incident in 2012 where the police shot 10 refugees. Yes, it might have happened, but so what? Here in the UK, someone is shot every day and it is on BBC and it is everywhere."
The ambassador said this weekend that he got the year of the shootings wrong. The reported number of dead is at least 12, according to reports compiled by Human Rights Watch.
During the meeting, the ambassador appeared reluctant to give a categorical assurance that any refugees transported to Rwanda from the UK would never be returned to their home country.
He said: "Even if it happened, in the unlikely event that it happened, how many times would it happen? And in broad daylight? We have a double British and Rwandan supervisory committee. It's very independent." Busingye was confirmed as high commissioner for Rwanda, an ambassadorial-level appointment, in March 2022, despite opposition from some MPs, including former Tory leaderIain Duncan Smith.
Busingye was justice minister when Paul Rusesabagina, whose efforts in saving more than 1,200 people from death were documented in the film Hotel Rwanda, was allegedly abducted and detained on charges including terrorism by the Rwandan government in August 2020 after being tricked into taking a chartered flight from Dubai to Rwanda.
Led By Donkeys set up a fake south-east Asian company and approached the public affairs agency Chelgate about investing in Rwanda. The London-based business has links to the Rwandan government, and its chairman, Terence Fane-Saunders, advised Busingye during the international condemnation over Rusesabagina's detention. He was freed in March after his 25-year sentence was commuted.
In an initial online meeting, Fane-Saunders, who was unaware the person he was speaking to was a fake businessman and part of a sting, explained the work he and his agency had done for the Rwandan government.
It included media training, arranging visits for journalists and advising Busingye when he was justice minister for a television interview with Al Jazeera on the detention of Rusesabagina. The footage of this session was later inadvertently sent to Al Jazeera.Fane-Saunders said in the online call he considered Rusesabagina had been kidnapped. He said: "The Rwandan intelligence service had heard he had chartered this plane…and they arranged with the plane that it should stop over in Kigali… It was quite funny. The definition of a kidnap. I mean, I think technically it was a kidnap."
The veteran public affairs executive also said Chelgate had helped arrange trips to Rwanda for journalists, but those who were thought to be critical were not invited. He said: "We haven't organised a trip for any hostile critics out to Rwanda," he said. "They would just be digging for negative stuff. "
In March 2023, Braverman faced criticism that an official press trip to Rwanda excluded some media organisations, including the Guardian, the Daily Mirror and the BBC. Chelgate said it was not representing the Rwandan government at the time of the trip in March.
Fane-Saunders offered to arrange a meeting between the "businessman" and the ambassador during the online call in August. He also attended the lunch meeting with Busingye and the "businessman" at the Travellers Club that month.
Fane-Saunders said Chelgate does not currently work for the Rwandan government or represent it and his comments during the online meeting were made in a personal capacity. He said he was speaking "privately and informally" and the recording was made without permission.
He said neither he nor his company had a professional relationship with Rwanda, the Rwandan government or any of its representatives.
Busingye said in a statement to the Observer: "My comments about the short-term approach to migration is applicable to all nations in the global north." He said countries needed to invest strategically in countries fuelling migration and the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) between the UK and Rwanda was "an important first step in addressing the imbalance in opportunities".
When asked why he considered it immoral for the UK to call itself a compassionate country, he said: "No country can claim to be wholly compassionate at all times. What's important is how we set about addressing the wrongs of the past."
He said the MEDP sought to do that and it had his full backing. He said no asylum seeker relocated from the UK would be forced back to their country of origin.
With regard to the shootings of refugees, he said that it was an isolated incident that had been fully investigated. He said: "Lessons have been learned by all relevant parties to ensure there are no repeats of such an incident.
"Rwanda has a well-established track record of providing safety, security, and opportunity for refugees."
A UK government spokesperson said: "We need innovative solutions to stop the boats and break the business model of the people-smuggling gangs – including our new Illegal Migration Act and our Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda.
"We remain fully committed to this policy, as does the Rwandan government. We will continue to defend the policy robustly in the courts."
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I was hoping you would consider taking the step of supporting the Guardian's journalism.
From Elon Musk to Rupert Murdoch, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about what's happening in the world. The Guardian is different. We have no billionaire owner or shareholders to consider. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest – not profit motives.
And we avoid the trap that befalls much US media – the tendency, born of a desire to please all sides, to engage in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. While fairness guides everything we do, we know there is a right and a wrong position in the fight against racism and for reproductive justice. When we report on issues like the climate crisis, we're not afraid to name who is responsible. And as a global news organization, we're able to provide a fresh, outsider perspective on US politics – one so often missing from the insular American media bubble.
Around the world, readers can access the Guardian's paywall-free journalism because of our unique reader-supported model. That's because of people like you. Our readers keep us independent, beholden to no outside influence and accessible to everyone – whether they can afford to pay for news, or not.
If you can, please consider supporting us just once from $1, or better yet, support us every month with a little more. Thank you.
Betsy Reed
Editor, Guardian US
### "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence", George Washington. ###
