Sanjivan Ruprah
Revision as of 00:54, 12 April 2008 by Tom Griffin (talk | contribs)
- One of Africa's most notorious arms dealers, a man who has been banned from entering Britain and been described by the government as "odious" for his alleged role in illegally supplying weapons to rebel forces in Sierra Leone, has been arrested in Belgium.
- Sanjivan Ruprah, a Kenyan national of Indian extraction, was charged in Brussels with criminal association and travelling on a false British passport; other more serious charges are expected to follow.
- Mr Ruprah was named by the UN two years ago as one of four men who sold arms to the now defunct Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone in clear breach of international sanctions, fuelling a bloody decade-long civil war against the government that claimed at least 50,000 lives.[1]
Branch Energy
Before his involvement in Liberia, Sanjivan Ruprah had mining interests in Kenya, and was associated with Branch Energy (Kenya). Branch Energy owned diamond mining rights in Sierra Leone, and introduced the private military company, Executive Outcomes to the government there in 1995. Ruprah is also known as an arms broker. He has worked in South Africa with Roelf van Heerden, a former colleague from Executive Outcomes, and together they have done business in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere. Ruprah was once in charge of an airline in Kenya, Simba Airlines, until investigations into financial irregularities forced the company’s closure. [2]
Liberia
- In November 1999, a Kenyan national named Sanjivan Ruprah was authorized by the Liberian Minister of Transport to act as the ‘Global Civil Aviation agent worldwide’ for the Liberian Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority, and to ‘investigate and regularize the ... Liberian Civil Aviation register’. During its visit to Liberia the Panel asked the Transport Ministry, the Ministry of Justice and police authorities about Ruprah and his work, but was told that he was not known to them. Ruprah is, in fact, a well-known weapons dealer. He travels using a Liberian diplomatic passport in the name of Samir M. Nasr, and carries additional authorization from the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry.[3]
Affiliations
Connections
References
- ↑ Key African arms dealer arrested, Andrew Osborn, The Guardian, 16 February 2002.
- ↑ Report of the Panel of Experts appointed pursuant to Security Council resolution 1306 (2000), paragraph 19, in relation to Sierra Leone, December 2000, pp37-38, via globalsecurity.org
- ↑ Report of the Panel of Experts appointed pursuant to Security Council resolution 1306 (2000), paragraph 19, in relation to Sierra Leone, December 2000, p10, via globalsecurity.org
