Silverback is Barred
Found this article on Air Cargo World....may go towards the "where are they" question...
The skies over Africa are still not clear of airlines with appalling safety records and dubious operating practices. Cargo is hardly exempt from such nefarious operators.
About four years ago a Rwanda-based company called Silverback Cargo Freighters emerged on the scene with two DC-8-62 freighters. The aircraft, it seemed, had been acquired from the United States for a "symbolic" price of £10 million each in a complex and untraceable financial deal.
The airline began commercial services and charters in the region, including operations for Ethiopian Airlines. Silverback Cargo Freighters also made regular sorties into Europe, usually Ostend in Belgium, a favored destination for maverick carriers.
For a time one of its aircraft also was sub-leased to a Liberian registered, International Air Services, operating out of the Ras-al-Khaimah free trade zone in the United Arab Emirates.
But it soon became apparent, authorities said that in addition to its regular commercial activities Silverback Cargo Freighters also was operating regular flights carrying arms shipments from Eastern Europe to Kigali in Rwanda in clear breach of a United Nations arms embargo.
The airline got its wake-up call last summer when Belgian authorities "named and shamed" several airlines it banned from its skies over safety concerns. Silverback Cargo Freighters was high on the list.
The move effectively barred the African carrier from Europe and placed it high on the "suspect" list of other aviation authorities.
There the matter rested until early March, when the Rwandan authorities impounded an aircraft of Belgian carrier SN Brussels at Kigali airport for three days citing safety concerns. SN Brussels suspended all further flights to Rwanda, cutting the country's only air link to Europe. The row blew up into a major diplomatic incident between Belgium and its former African protectorate, with the Belgians firmly believing the move against SN Brussels was a direct retaliation for the ban on Silverback Cargo Freighters.