Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ROME4614
2003-10-09 04:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Rome
Cable title:  

Ambassador Tony P. Hall in the Democratic Republic

Tags:  EAID AORC PREF EAGR EU CF WFP UN 
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UNCLAS ROME 004614 

SIPDIS


AIDAC

FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME

AMEMBASSY KINSHASA FOR AMBASSADOR HOOKS AND USAID DIRECTOR
GAMBINO
USAID/W FOR ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS, D/A SCHIECK, AA/DCHA
WINTER, AA/AFR NEWMAN AND DAA/AFR BROWN, DCHA/D/FFP LANDIS,
D/OFDA MCCONNELL, AA/GLOBAL PETERSON
STATE FOR P U/S GROSSMAN, U/S LARSON, IO A/S HOLMES, A/S
PRM DEWEY, A/S AF KANSTEINER, AF/C, IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK,
USUN NEW YORK FOR AMBASSADOR NEGROPONTE, SREILLY
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN AND CHAMBLISS
USDA/FAS NAIROBI FOR KESSLER
USMISSION GENEVA FOR AMBASSADOR MOLRY AND USAID/KYLOH
BRUSSELS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS AND USAID/LERNER
NSC FOR JDWORKEN AND AFRICA DIRECTORATE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID AORC PREF EAGR EU CF WFP UN
SUBJECT: Ambassador Tony P. Hall in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo "If Africa is to work, it must work in the
Congo" "The Congo is crying for leadership. The Congo
needs leaders with hearts and vision as big as the country
itself."

REF: (A) Kinshasa 2415, (B) Kinshasa 1613

-------
Summary
-------

UNCLAS ROME 004614

SIPDIS


AIDAC

FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME

AMEMBASSY KINSHASA FOR AMBASSADOR HOOKS AND USAID DIRECTOR
GAMBINO
USAID/W FOR ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS, D/A SCHIECK, AA/DCHA
WINTER, AA/AFR NEWMAN AND DAA/AFR BROWN, DCHA/D/FFP LANDIS,
D/OFDA MCCONNELL, AA/GLOBAL PETERSON
STATE FOR P U/S GROSSMAN, U/S LARSON, IO A/S HOLMES, A/S
PRM DEWEY, A/S AF KANSTEINER, AF/C, IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK,
USUN NEW YORK FOR AMBASSADOR NEGROPONTE, SREILLY
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN AND CHAMBLISS
USDA/FAS NAIROBI FOR KESSLER
USMISSION GENEVA FOR AMBASSADOR MOLRY AND USAID/KYLOH
BRUSSELS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS AND USAID/LERNER
NSC FOR JDWORKEN AND AFRICA DIRECTORATE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID AORC PREF EAGR EU CF WFP UN
SUBJECT: Ambassador Tony P. Hall in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo "If Africa is to work, it must work in the
Congo" "The Congo is crying for leadership. The Congo
needs leaders with hearts and vision as big as the country
itself."

REF: (A) Kinshasa 2415, (B) Kinshasa 1613

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. A team led by Ambassador Tony Hall visited the
Democratic Republic of the Congo September 23-30 and found
the country with the third largest population in sub-
Saharan Africa struggling to contain a major humanitarian
disaster. In 2003, some 2.7 million internally displaced
will require international assistance which must be closely
monitored and deftly handled. Three million people are
already dead from the catastrophe of the past six years.
Given the depth and wide geographic spread of the tragedy,
greater leadership and involvement of the United Nations at
the country level is required. Congo leaders must stand up
and demonstrate that they truly care for the weakest and
most vulnerable of their citizens. Lastly, other OECD donor
capitals need to be seized with a heightened sense of
urgency. End summary.

--------------
Background
--------------


2. Ambassador Tony Hall, US Mission to Rome; Rome
Humanitarian Attache, Tim Lavelle; Agricultural Counselor
Geoff Wiggin; and Special Assistant to the Ambassador, Max
Finberg - visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) September 23-30. In addition to meetings in Kinshasa
with U.S. Embassy/USAID, United Nations, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and DRC functionaries, the team spent

several days in areas in the north and east (Kisangani,
Bunia, Goma, Bukavu) reviewing World Food Program (WFP),
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and NGO immediate
relief and longer-term operations.


3. DRC - which is as large as Western Europe (or about one
quarter the size of the United States) - has the third
largest population in sub-Saharan Africa (56 million
people/200 ethic groups) and an annual per capita income of
approximately U.S. 87 dollars. That means that many people
are forced to survive on less than 25 cents per day. It is
classified by the United Nations as a least developed
country (LDC) and ranks almost at the bottom of the UN's
Human Development Index (HDI). Infant mortality rates
jumped from 114 per thousand in 1995 to 126 per thousand in

2001. The country's rate of childbirth deaths, with 1,289
mothers dying per 100,000 live births, is among the highest
in the world. DRC has an estimated external debt of nearly
U.S. 13 billion.


4. The Congolese people have endured one of the bloodiest
conflicts in modern history, where millions have been
killed or brutalized, and where millions still live a
precarious existence.


5. There is some hope however. A Government of National
Unity and Transition is now in place in Kinshasa. Economic
indicators have improved in recent years, with inflation
dropping to an expected 12.2 percent this year, from 512
percent in 2000. The DRC's gross domestic product grew 3.17
percent in 2002, against a contraction of 6.9 percent in

2000. Exports have surged 39.7 percent, mainly because of
diamond sales, which are up 65.3 percent. (Note: Due to
the international implementation of the Kimberley Process
UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 05 ROME 004614

SIPDIS

AIDAC

FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME

AMEMBASSY KINSHASA FOR AMBASSADOR HOOKS AND USAID DIRECTOR
GAMBINO
USAID/W FOR ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS, D/A SCHIECK, AA/DCHA
WINTER, AA/AFR NEWMAN AND DAA/AFR BROWN, DCHA/D/FFP LANDIS,
D/OFDA MCCONNELL, AA/GLOBAL PETERSON
STATE FOR P U/S GROSSMAN, U/S LARSON, IO A/S HOLMES, A/S
PRM DEWEY, A/S AF KANSTEINER, AF/C, IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK,
USUN NEW YORK FOR AMBASSADOR NEGROPONTE, SREILLY
USDA/FAS FO

and U.S. legislation to ensure authenticity, diamonds
imported into the U.S. and other ratifying countries
require a certification from a national government.) End
note.

6. The United Nations has a peacekeeping mission, known by
the French acronym MONUC, operating in the country. There
are presently some 8,000 10,000 UN peacekeepers, "blue
helmets," deployed throughout DRC. MONUC is mandated by the
UN Security Council (UNSC),by Resolution 1493, to assist
the DRC Transitional Government in tackling its urgent
priorities: disarming and demobilizing armed groups,
planning for national elections in two years' time, and
providing training and assistance in the rule of law
sector.

7. In spite of good efforts, food insecurity remains the
country's most deep-rooted problem. With 2.7 million
internally displaced (IDPs),there are another 17 million
who live in deep and long-term poverty.


8. A November 2000 FAO crop and food supply assessment
confirmed substantive food deficits throughout the DRC and
that "coping mechanisms such as eating less food, eating
fewer mealshave been stretched to the limit". Recourse to
markets remains severely limited because of non-existent
transportation infrastructure and lack of purchasing power.
In general, the war has had both a devastating effect on
agricultural production and a withering impact on household
assets.

--------------
What the team saw
--------------


9. Ambassador Hall and team traveled from Kinshasa to the
Congo's "wild east" Kisangani (Orientale Province),Bunia
(Ituri District),Goma (North Kivu),and Bukavu (South
Kivu). Air transport was furnished mainly through MONUC.
The team visited inter alia:

-Farming cooperatives in Kisangani and Rutshuru (a town in
the Virunga National Park) where FAO and WFP are working
together to provide mosaic virus disease-resistant cassava,
seeds, tools and food in exchange for labor building roads
and community assets (representative of 150 sites with
FAO/WFP cooperative partnerships);
-A camp for the displaced in Bunia, where people's only
sustenance is food aid given to families and only hope for
the future is being able to return to their fields (while
no longer the epicenter of violence or in the headlines,
new arrivals were still coming in from the outlying
district);
-Community feeding centers and rehabilitation feeding
centers in the shadows of the volcanoes of North Kivu and
near the shores of the lake in South Kivu, where children
get a nutritious and balanced meal and those closest to
death are nursed back to health;
-Hospitals in Goma and Bukavu that are assisting rape
victims with the long process of rebuilding their lives,
beginning with some food, some medical care and someone to
listen (a recent International Rescue Committee reportMAN AND DAA/AFR
BROWN, DCHA/D/FFP LANDIS,
D/OFDA MCCONNELL, AA/GLOBAL PETERSON
STATE FOR P U/S GROSSMAN, U/S LARSON, IO A/S HOLMES, A/S
PRM DEWEY, A/S AF KANSTEINER, AF/C, IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK,
USUN NEW YORK FOR AMBASSADOR NEGROPONTE, S

documented 5,000 reported rapes in only four communities of
South Kivu in a three month period);
-Schools and training centers in Bunia, Nyangezi (a town
outside of Bukavu) and Kinshasa where children who were
orphans, child soldiers or abandoned because of disease or
barbaric accusations of witchcraft receive a meal, an
education and hope for the future.


10. In general, people throughout the east requested
assistance with the demobilization process, especially
through public works projects where they would receive food
or cash in exchange for building a road, a dam, a health
post or a school. They repeatedly asked for continued help
with feeding the most vulnerable widows, orphans, the
sick and the young. Most just wanted peace, so that they
could quickly return to their farms and grow enough to feed
themselves.

--------------
What people said
--------------



11. Here is what people in rural Congo said to us:

-A school teacher told the team that: "for us, the war [on
ignorance and poverty] is just beginning because more
children are starting to come out of the bush and need our
help;"
-A local doctor explained: "women have paid the highest
pricethose who have been gang raped and need
reconstructive surgery cannot start until they are
nutritionally fit;"
-A demobilized child soldier told us his story of being
kidnapped, forced to kill in order to live and how he had
benefited from humanitarian aid in starting a new life;
-A single mother said: "We are hungry, we suffer from
disease, but our greatest illness is the lack of education
of our children;"
-A Polish missionary working in Murambi asked that: "we not
grow weary of doing good;"
-A Congolese doctor remarked: "America has shown its power
(in the Congo) by its care for the weakest."

-------------- --------------
U.S. Mission/Rome conclusions and recommendations
-------------- --------------


12. The team reiterates its deep concern at the persistent
fighting that continues to afflict Bunia and North and
South Kivu. This fighting is not only inconsistent with the
quest for a political solution, it also poses the risk that
political agreements might be undermined and their
credibility called into question. All parties should
therefore cease hostile military activity.


13. We encourage the United Nations and MONUC to maintain a
strategy in line with its mandate under Chapter Seven of
the UN Charter (which authorizes the use of force),assure
the number of soldiers that have been promised and adhere
to the announced deployment plan.


14. The UN, donors and other concerned actors need to
endorse and support the efforts of the Ituri Pacification. MISSION IN ROME

AMEMBASSY KINSHASA FOR AMBASSADOR HOOKS AND USAID DIRECTOR
GAMBINO
USAID/W FOR ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS, D/A SCHIECK, AA/DCHA
WINTER, AA/AFR NEWMAN AND DAA/AFR BROWN, DCHA/D/FFP LANDIS,
D/OFDA MCCONNELL, AA/GLOBAL PETERSON
STATE FOR P U/S GROSSMAN, U/S LARSON, IO A/S HOLMES, A/S
PRM DEWEY, A/S AF KANSTEINER, AF/C, IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK,
USUN NEW YORK FOR AMBASSADOR NEGROPONTE, SREILLY
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN AND CHAMBLISS
USDA/FAS NAIROBI FOR KESSLER

Commission (IPC).


15. The murder and mass rape of unarmed civilians, the
destruction and looting of property, the expulsion of
families from their homes and the use of child soldiers
must be denounced as heinous crimes and those responsible
must be held accountable and promptly brought to justice.


16. All concerned should make every effort to ensure that
the illegal exploitation of natural resources, the spoils
of which serve both to enrich some of the individuals
concerned and to fuel the continuation of the conflict, and
which is still being perpetrated be stopped. For example
and in keeping with the USG priority initiative of the
Congo Basin Forest Partnership, an international agreement
on timber should be pursued, similar to the Kimberley
Process for diamonds.


17. That FAO step up its laudable emergency seeds and tools
program and WFP promptly introduce emergency school feeding
and where appropriate food-for-work activities in support
of road construction, infrastructure rehabilitation, food
for training, resettlement of IDPs, social reintegration of
child combatants, etc. If appropriate, the USG should
increase its contribution to activities run by FAO/DRC.



18. All should recognize that food is one of the tools that
builds peace, and is one of the dividends of peace. WFP and
FAO are encouraged to continue, and expand, their
intelligent collaboration in delivery of food and
assistance to needy families.


19. Donors need to increase resource flows to local NGOs,
particularly to enable them to step up provision of
adequate health care to war-affected and other acutely
vulnerable populations. In particular, the UN (and their
partner NGOs) should take advantage of food deliveries
(where large numbers of beneficiaries often wait for hours
to receive their ration) to impart mother-child health care
training, HIV/AIDS and nutrition education messages. In
particular, feeding sites should serve as focal points for
immunizations against measles and other contagious diseases
such as polio, typhus, relapsing fever, meningitis.


20. The UN should quickly intensify and expand activities
to strengthen HIV/AIDS surveillance systems, care for
orphans, and training for service providers to better
manage STI/HIV/AIDS. Note: UN OCHA (2003) estimates the
HIV/AIDs prevalence rate at 20-22 percent of Congo's
eastern population. End note.


21. The World Bank should be encouraged to step up its
funding of vital road construction, railroad
rehabilitation, and river transport revitalization.


22. The international community needs to recognize that the
humanitarian challenges in the Congo will require years to
resolve.


23. Given the organization's long-standing forestry-related
experience in Central Africa (including its 2001/2002
initiative entitled "in search of excellence," FAO is
encouraged to continue (and where appropriate intensify)CK, AA/DCHA
WINTER, AA/AFR NEWMAN AND DAA/AFR BROWN, DCHA/D/FFP LANDIS,
D/OFDA MCCONNELL, AA/GLOBAL PETERSON
STATE FOR P U/S GROSSMAN, U/S LARSON, IO A/S HOLMES, A/S
PRM DEWEY, A/S AF KANSTEINER, AF/C, IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK,
USUN NEW YORK FOR AMBASSADOR NEGROPONTE, SREILLY
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN AND CHAMBLISS
USDA/FAS NAIROBI FOR KESSLER
USMISSION GENEVA FOR AMBASSADOR MOLRY AND USAID/KYLOH
BRUSSELS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS AND USAID/LERNER
NSC FOR JDWORKEN AND AFRICA DI

its dialogue with the members of the Congo River Basin
Forest Partnership in refining the framework for collective
action related to conservation of the tropical forests of
the region.

--------------
Personal note from Ambassador Hall
--------------


24. Having traveled to more than 110 countries all over the
world, I have never seen a place like the Congo. Nowhere
have I witnessed so much suffering on such a massive scale
the flame of childhood has been snuffed out in the eyes
of so many child soldiers, millions going hungry because
they are forced to abandon their farms and women are raped
in such a way that it is not just a violation of the woman,
but the very fabric of society.


25. But I am heartened by the courage and spirit here where
the people bravely preserve their human spirit in the face
of unspeakable hardship and violence. It is a place where
the people sing and dance while they toil, where the soil
grows anything planted in abundance and where the United
Nations and the humanitarian community are working so well
collectively to address the issues at hand.


26. I am proud that the people of the United States have
not abandoned the Congo during its time of trouble. This
year alone, we have provided more than U.S. dollars 100
million in assistance, plus hundreds of millions more
through international organizations. Additionally, the
United States gave more than three quarters of all the food
WFP has received in the past two years. Food aid is
leveraging so much more. Everywhere we went, people were
eating food with USA on the package former child soldiers
who were happy to trade their guns for a regular meal and
hope for the future, women whose only hope of recovery
began with a full stomach, farmers who were building
everything from roads to fish ponds in exchange for a sack
of food and some seeds to start their lives over again.


27. An African proverb that I have seen proven over and
over is 'when the elephants fight, the grass dies.' The
Congo is crying for leadership. The Congo needs leaders
with hearts and vision as big as the country itself. The
treasures of the Congo need to go into the treasury of the
Congo. If a leader in Congo stands up and demonstrates
that he or she truly cares for the weakest, they will
receive true power from the people respect and admiration
that no amount of money can buy.


28. Finally, my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to
Ambassador Hooks, USAID Director Gambino, WFP Country
Director Felix Bamezon, FAO Country Representative Ad
Spijkers, and the MONUC leadership - and their staffs - for
wonderful support and guidance during our visit and their
competent leadership on the ground. I have to say that I
have never seen better cooperation between the FAO, WFP and
larger UN community, with donors, NGOs and the host
government. This does not happen by accident and all of
those listed above are to be commended for their hard work
in making the DRC a positive example in this regard. Hall


NNNN
2003ROME04614 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED