PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - An Englishman & an Irishman in the Congo...Avient
Old 13th Sep 2006, 18:47
  #18 (permalink)  
AfgAirOps
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 180
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
'Capt Moyo'.... I think we may have met, on-board that very DC-10....... did you have a connection with Kent?

Originally Posted by napoleon
Capt Moyo Yes shamwari it is the same Smith and the same Avient. Part of John Breedenkamps empire. They are a bunch of unconvicted murderous criminals..........but the net is closing in on them fast.


I'd love to see Smiths reply, here, in-public, to this...... if he had the backbone to do so....

Originally Posted by snarfel
Just a reminder..., read the March 5th 2003 Rwanda and Great Lakes debate in the UK Parliament http://www.appggreatlakes.org/cgi-bi...entary_Debates.
Search for: "... to British business man Andrew Smith, who is a former Royal Engineers captain. He manages Avient Air, which supplied six attack helicopters to the Kinshasa Government and ..." etcetera !
And also;

UN Criticizes UK for Failing to Clamp Down on Mercenaries - Financial Times
"Avient provided military assistance to the unelected Congolese government's air force in 1999 and 2000 during the war against rebel forces. "

How a Perfect English Gent in a Rural Idyll Profits From a Bloody African War - Observer
"But an Observer investigation has uncovered evidence that behind the doors of a luxury house on the edge of the village, Andrew Smith runs a business empire which has made a fortune from a bloody African civil war that has claimed millions of lives. "

How British Army Man Organised Bombing Raids, Mercenary Operations - The East African
"The Observer newspaper also alleges that Smith ran a mercenary operation in the DRC and had documents showing that the former army captain had traded with the notorious Ukrainian arms dealer Leonid Minin (see The EastAfrican, November 18-24)."

UN cuts details of Western profiteers from Congo report, The Independent
"Avient is run by a former British Army captain, Andrew Smith. In the last panel report, the company was said to have been contracted to stage bombing raids over eastern Congo in 1999 and 2000. It also allegedly sold six attack helicopters to the Kinshasa government last year. "

Final Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - UN Security Council - S/2002/1146
"In April 2002, Avient Air brokered the sale of six attack helicopters to the Kinshasa Government. Bank records show several transactions between Avient and accused trafficker Leonid Minim. Under the management of Andrew Smith, a former British army captain, Gerry O'Brien and Lewis Kling, Avient was contracted to organize bombing raids into eastern D.R. Congo in 1999 and 2000."

A Catalogue of Failures: G8 Arms Exports and Human Rights Violations - Amnesty International
"Another example is the Zimbabwean company, Avient, with management links to the UK, which was reported to have hired Russian aircraft and air crew to support the government of Laurent Kabila in the Congo with "air drops", and also admitted to repairing and maintaining Russian MIG fighters for the Kabila regime."

Regulating weapons deals: The case for European Controls on arms brokers - Oxfam
(pdf file, right-click & save)
"British citizen, Andrew Smith, resident in Wiltshire, was named by a UN report for organising bombing raids in DRC on behalf of President Joseph Kabila. He is also alleged to have brokered the sale of six attack helicopters to DRC government last April. He side-stepped EU arms embargos by operating through his company, Avient, registered in Zimbabwe."

Originally Posted by capt.moyo
Is this finnman who post earlier one of the criminals, he seem to support this smith with his comment?
Don't know if he's a criminal or not but I do know that he works for Smith and that it could therefore be argued, supports him.
AfgAirOps is offline