March 30, 2007 Treasury Designates Ten Individuals and "These individuals and firms trafficked in plundered gold and arms at the cost of human lives," said Adam Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. "We are taking action in concert with the U.N. Security Council to disrupt their activities and to stem the violence in the Three of the designated firms have been found to be owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, Viktor Bout, an international arms dealer and war profiteer who was named in the Annex to EO 13413 on The other four firms, along with two of the three designated individuals, are designated for their respective roles in supporting armed groups in the DRC's eastern provinces during the war. Butembo Airlines and Congocom Trading House are owned or controlled by Kambale Kisoni, a Congolese gold trader whose provision of various types of support to these armed groups, in violation of the international arms embargo imposed on warring parties in the DRC conflict, has been documented and reported by the UN and other outside observers. Another Congolese gold dealer, Dieudonne Ozia Mazio, is being designated for his role in similar activity. Straton Musoni, the final individual designated, is the First Vice-President of the Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), which is largely made up of Hutu extremists who participated in the 1993 Rwandan genocide. Musoni is being named because of his role as a leader of the FDLR, which has impeded the disarmament, repatriation, or resettlement of combatants in the DRC. Today's action freezes any assets of the designated persons that are within These ten new names bring the total number of individuals and entities designated under EO 13413 to 17. This action is taken in coordination with yesterday's (March 29, 2007) designation by the UN of eight of the above-named individuals and entities pursuant to various UN Security Council Resolutions. The UN is not listing Cargo Freight International at this time, while Ozio Mazio has been previously listed by the UN.
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