Regrets Only: An Africa Journal: An Appeal For The Extradition of The "Merchant of Death"

Thursday, February 12, 2009

An Appeal For The Extradition of The "Merchant of Death"

U.S. Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), Ranking Member of the Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee, is asking the Obama Administration to make the extradition of international arms dealer Viktor Bout as a top priority in U.S.-Thailand relations.

"The Congress is making it abundantly clear, the 'Merchant of Death' must face justice," said Royce in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder, using Viktor Bout's moniker given for his history of fueling brutal civil wars on the African continent and elsewhere through the illicit sale of arms.

Bout was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, as part of an elaborate U.S.-led law enforcement operation in March 2008. Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking Bout's extradition to stand trial for conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Bout believed he was negotiating a deal to provide the FARC with millions of dollars in arms when he was arrested in Thailand.

"Bout's actions have threatened the security of many countries and regions and destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent individuals. His extradition must be a continuing priority for the U.S. government," said Royce.

Bout's extradition has been proceeding through the Thai judicial system since July of last year. According to a statement from Royce's office, there is growing concern amongst Members of Congress, however, that Bout's legal team has been successful in delaying the extradition process. At his most recent hearing in December, Bout managed to delay proceedings until March. Continuing reports suggesting that the Russian government is attempting to negatively influence this process continue, heightening concerns. The Russian Duma recently passed a resolution calling for Bout to be returned to Russia.

"The U.S. and Thailand have a very good relationship in the areas of security and law enforcement. But frankly, I am concerned. Bout needs to stand trial in the U.S. now for his support for terrorist organizations that have targeted Americans," concluded Royce.

Last July, Royce spearheaded the effort to bring the attention of the Bout extradition proceedings to the Thai government.

In the letter, Royce recalls that prior to his arrest, Bout "fueled many brutal civil wars on the African continent and elsewhere through the illicit sale of arms. Bout dealt weapons to several sides fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo and rebels in Angola in the 1990s, breaking international arms embargoes. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor relied on Bout to arm his reign of terror in West Africa, violently suppressing opposition to his corrupt rule in Liberia and arming allies in neighboring Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Cote d'Ivoire. In Afghanistan, Bout simultaneously armed the Taliban and the Northern Alliance."

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Why?

It is October, 1997. I am standing in a rubble-strewn Brazzaville street as the city returns cautiously to life after a bloody civil war. Armed men are all around me, most of them looting, occasionally firing off bursts of bullets in celebration. But I am not concentrating on this anymore. Instead, with the hand holding my microphone limp by my side, my tape running senselessly. I am looking at another corpse -- this one of a man, perhaps in his 20's, his legs charred. I know there will be no voice to record. But his lips are apart, his arms outstretched, fingers together, as if in prayer. It seems another one of Africa's dead is trying to speak to me. And I feel I owe him this one last consideration. I think maybe he wants to share his anguish, his despair, his pain. Or maybe a last word to a parent or a wife or a child. I feel badly -- because I do not know for sure. I do know though that I have seen corpses like this before -- victims of war, or of genocide, or of famine, or of sickness. A symbolic path of the dead now runs through my mind -- a personal collection reflecting the real path their corpses have left across much of Africa: from arid Somalia in the northeast, across Sudan and into northern Uganda, down through steamy Rwanda, Burundi and Congo in the center of the continent. Some have been young men in uniform, their bodies shattered by a bullet or a shell. Some have been old men, thin beyond belief, weakened by hunger or disease. Some have been women, their dresses in tatters, their faces etched with silent agony. Some have been children, too young to die, their skulls cleaved in half. Some I have met in battle-scarred streets, some in burned-out buildings. Some I have seen sprawled amidst flowers in an open field, some floating, limbs bound, in muddy water. Some I have found in groups thrown into a dirt pit, some alone in the aisles of a gutted church. I have, at times, had imaginary conversations with these dead of mine -- their unrecorded voices playing on endlessly inside my head, sometimes loud, sometimes just a whisper. I tell them I am sorry and if it were in my power, I would restore them to life. But I can't. It's not in my power. Perhaps the only help I can give is to try to tell their story.

The Reporter

Alex Belida has been in international broadcasting since 1971. He spent nearly eight years in sub-Saharan Africa as a correspondent for the Voice of America, based first in Nairobi (1993-1996) and then in Johannesburg (1996-2000). He covered conflicts and humanitarian crises in Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville, northern Uganda, Angola and Lesotho as well as political unrest in Zimbabwe and catastrophic flooding in Mozambique. He suffered gunshot wounds while reporting in Somalia.
While in Africa, he was elected Chairman of the East Africa Foreign Correspondents Association in Nairobi and served as Treasurer of the Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa during his Johannesburg assignment.
Before going to Africa, he served as VOA's Senior White House reporter for four years following stints as coordinator of the 1988 Presidential Election coverage and as National News Editor. Before those Washington assignments, he was based in Germany, where he served as Soviet affairs, East-West security and German affairs correspondent (1982-1985).
Following Africa, he served as Pentagon correspondent. In 2004 he was named Managing Editor and in 2007 became Senior Advisor for News at VOA. He retired in 2011.
Before joining VOA, he worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in both New York and Munich, rising from reporter to Assistant News Director. He has a BA from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and a MS in Journalism from Columbia University in New York. In 2006, he received the prestigious Alumni Achievement Award from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. He also has an honorary doctorate in communications from the Somali National University.

The views expressed here are his own.

Regrets Only: An Africa Journal

Thursday, February 12, 2009

An Appeal For The Extradition of The "Merchant of Death"

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