Kampala — Ugandan government allegedly turned a blind eye as Rwandan Hutu rebels drafted fighters from refugee camps in the country, a new UN report says.

The report, authored by a UN Group of Experts appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, also accuses Uganda of illegally trading in DR Congo minerals. The findings, dismissed by authorities in Kampala, are due to be discussed by the UN Security Council.

The document notes that two Hutu rebel groups based in DR Congo, the FDLR and RUD-URUNANA, have since early this year been recruiting hundreds of combatants from Nakivale and Kyaka refugee camps in western Uganda under the noses of the authorities who are supposed to prevent it.

But the Ugandan military says if any recruitments are ongoing, it is without their consent.

"If they have been recruiting from refugee camps, it was without our knowledge and we are going to investigate. If we knew, we would arrest them," said Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the army spokesman.

The report names the FDLR's 'Colonel' Wenceslas Nizeyimana, who is accused of facilitating a visit in 2006 by FDLR President Ignace Murwanyashyaka to Uganda in violation of a UN travel ban, as the brains behind the recruitment.

Mr Murwanyashyaka, who was recently arrested in Germany on war crimes allegations arising from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, was discovered to have travelled on a Ugandan passport on previous visits to FDLR camps in DR Congo.

The report accuses the governments of Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and DR Congo of allowing serious breaches of sanctions and the illegal export of mineral wealth.

Gold trade

Uganda, the report notes, is deeply involved in a thriving trade of gold mined in sites in eastern DR Congo controlled by the FDLR. It says two Ugandan gold trading companies; UCI and Machanga which were sanctioned by the UN for buying gold from mines taxed by an assortment of Congolese militia, are the most active and are trading with the protection and connivance of the Ugandan authorities.

Government Spokesperson Kabakumba Masiko said the report authors must adduce evidence because Uganda has never been an accomplice in violating the arms embargo on DRC.