Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05KINSHASA779
2005-05-09 15:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kinshasa
Cable title:  

CLEANING HOUSE IN KATANGA

Tags:  PGOV PREL KPKO MARR CG 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000779 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO MARR CG
SUBJECT: CLEANING HOUSE IN KATANGA

Classified By: PolCouns MSanderson, reasons 1.4 b/d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000779

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO MARR CG
SUBJECT: CLEANING HOUSE IN KATANGA

Classified By: PolCouns MSanderson, reasons 1.4 b/d.


1. (C) Summary: International and Congolese media have been
seized in recent days with eye-catching reports of a possible
provincial seccession or coup against President Kabila in
Katanga province. What seems actually to be happening in
Katanga is the President cleaning house in "his" province.
The result so far has been that a couple of hundred people --
both military and civilian -- have been arrested as
provincial networks belonging to Air Force Commander General
John Numbi are broken up. These moves likely will improve
security in the province in the short-term, although as we
come closer to elections the risk of politically motivated
violence in the province, particularly between the UDPS and
PPRD, will again increase. The need to prevent or contain
pre-electoral and electoral violence has prompted Monuc to
request additional troops, to be stationed in Katanga and the
neighboring Kasai provinces, as the current troop levels are
sufficient only to sustain operations in the Kivus and Ituri
district. End Summary.

Katanga -- Hotbed of Problems...
--------------


2. (C) Katanga is widely considered to be President Kabila's
strong base in the DRC. His mother and sister live there,
and he frequently visits, keeping in touch with local
politicians and businessmen. His circle of closest advisors
is composed largely of Katangans, who bring with them (in
addition to varying degrees of loyalty to the President
himself) the same divisions which characterize the province
itself. Specifically, the north-south divide of Katanga
province is epitomized by the rivalry between senior
Presidential Advisor Augustin Katumba (a southerner) and Air
Force Commander General John Numbi (a northerner).
Historically the province also has suffered ethnically-based
violence between Katangans and Kasaians resident in Katanga,
and a persistent separatist current which dates back to
independence. Of these factors, the ethnic issue is
potentially the most explosive, particularly in the run-up to
elections, but the internal PPRD dynamic is the most

difficult to balance.

... and Intrigue
--------------


3. (C) Tensions have been rising in Katanga for the last
several months, partly as a result of Numbi's activities,
which include inciting new violence against the Kasaians.
(Numbi was implicated in the previous killing of Kasaians
when the "real Katangans" tried to purge their province of
outsiders.) Numbi built a series of networks in southern
Katanga, based in Lubumbashi and Kolwezi (a mining town),
penetrating the Presidential Guard (GSSP),regular military,
the intelligence services (particularly the ANR),Gecamines
(the mining company for which Numbi's father worked),several
NGOs and parts of the political structure. Elements of the
latter two have been associated with recent separatist
tracts. Numbi also is known to have connections to certain
Mai Mai elements in northern Katanga who have been among the
most troublesome in terms of provincial security.


4. (C) About three weeks ago, and apparently in response to
indications that Numbi was preparing some sort of "action" in
Katanga, President Kabila apparently decided to preemptively
strike as many of Numbi's networks as possible. The first
step was to bring quietly into the country some of the
Congolese soldiers (mostly former Tigers and their
descendants) who had been residing in neighboring Zambia.
These troops moved quickly into the northern part of the
province and began military action against some of the Mai
Mai there, with the result being reportedly several hundred
Mai Mai casualties and the forced dispersal of some of the
most intransigent elements who had been located near
important mining sites (some of which belong to friends of
Augustin Katumba, the President's advisor). On May 4
National Security Advisor Samba Kaputo, a Presidential
loyalist of Katumba's camp, was dispatched to Lumbumbashi
where he reportedly foiled an attempt by the GSSP to take
over the city's airport. In the ensuing days, according to
the Vice Governor of the province, a PPRD member and Kabila
loyalist, Kaputo also seized several arms caches, arrested
over 30 regular military officers and the head of the local
civilian intelligence office (a known Numbi crony),and
several civil servants and politicians in Lubumbashi, Kolwezi
and Likasi, totalling about 200 individuals. The military
cleanup is expected to continue and expand, according to
Defense Minister Adolphe Onusumba, who was dispatched to
Lubumbashi by the President May 8 to assist Kaputo.

Oil On Troubled Waters
--------------


5. (C) President Kabila himself went to Lubumbashi May 9,
probably to deal directly with the involvement in the
intrigue of former provincial governor Katebe Katoto, whose
younger brother, Moise Katumbi, is a friend of Augustin
Katumba and of the President himself. In the murky waters of
Katanga politics, Katoto's connection to the fracas appears
to lie in his financial -- and political -- support for
"Solidarite Katangese," a local NGO whose director is one of
those arrested in the recent sweep. (Note: "Solidarite
Katangese" sprang from the roots of an older organization,
"Katangese Pour La Soldarite," which had been involved in the
massacre of Kasaians. As such, it is regarded as loosely
belonging to Numbi's sphere of influence as well. End Note.)
Kabila had already met twice with Katoto, once in Kinshasa
and once in Lubumbashi, to try to moderate his anti-Kasaian
behavior and rhetoric, but Katoto is a hard man with whom to
negotiate, given that his objective is to be elected governor
-- an ambition that Kabila does not support. Kabila would
prefer to avoid arresting either Katoto or Numbi, since doing
so likely would cause the current situation to escalate just
when it appears on the point of being resolved. Instead,
Numbi has been forced to remain in Lubumbashi, powerless to
protect or assist those who had been working for him, and
likely Katoto's punishment will be much the same.

Comment
--------------


6. (C) Although the press has been seized with the
separatist angle to the story, the Katanga developments have
virtually nothing to do with separatism and everything to do
with a power play by Numbi, who is disgruntled at not being
named commander of the army in the wake of a financial
scandal involving current army chief General Kisempia. Given
Numbi's temperament -- and temper -- it is quite likely that
he was planning some sort of violent action in response to
the President's military move against Mai Mai elements that
Numbi controls. Although this incident is, therefore,
something of an internal house-cleaning, there remains a very
real risk that as we move into the pre-electoral and
electoral period there will be renewed violence between
Kasaians and Katangans. It is in an effort to contain or
prevent such violence that Monuc is requesting additional
troops to be stationed in Katanga and the two Kasai
provinces, which currently have no Monuc military presence.
Monuc's current deployment is focused on keeping peace and
dealing with security threats in both Kivus and Ituri
district, where promising improvements already are underway.
DOUGHERTY