STATUS OF BEMBE EXTRADITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 002515

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UBI, EUR/PPD, AF/S
JUSTICE FOR OIA - JFRIEDMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2015
TAGS: PBTS PREL XA AO NL KPAO
SUBJECT: STATUS OF BEMBE EXTRADITION

REF: A. SECSTATE 158147 (AND PREVIOUS)

B. LUANDA 01180

Classified By: Chat Blakeman for Reasons 1.4 (B)(D).


1. (C) Summary: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not
taken a formal position on the Bembe extradition case but is
clearly uncomfortable with several aspects of it. A senior
MFA official told Charge September 14 the ministry's role to
date has been limited to providing factual information to the
court but that it may take a formal position for or against
the extradition after hearings resume October 4. Charge said
Washington officials were following the case closely and were
concerned that a straight-forward extradition case threatened
to become unnecessarily politicized. End Summary.

State of Play


2. (U) As reported in e-mails to EUR/UBI and AF/S, an
initial hearing on the Bento Bembe extradition case was held
September 13. Defense attorneys raised several objections to
the extradition request, challenging it on jurisidictional
grounds and asserting that the case -- involving the
kidnapping of a Chevron employee in Angola in 1990 -- was
political by nature and therefore not subject to extradition.
The court also received a letter from MFA explaining the
ministry's role in "facilitating" a visa for Bembe to attend
an NGO-sponsored effort in The Hague to help resolve the
Cabinda dispute in Angola. The hearing is to resume October
4, at which time MFA is to provide detailed information on
its involvement in Bembe's visit to The Hague last summer,
which ended in his arrest by Dutch police on June 21. He
remains in custody.


3. (U) The Bembe case broke into public view September 9,
when a widely circulated press article based on interviews
with officials in MFA's Africa bureau strongly criticized the
proceedings, asserting they would jeopardize peace efforts in
Angola and also tarnish The Hague's reputation as a center
for international peace efforts. At least several aspects of
the article were inaccurate. The MFA has not taken a formal
position on the extradition, according to officials in both
the MFA and the Ministry of Justice. The article also
asserted that Development Minister Agnes van Ardenne strongly
opposed the extradition; van Ardenne, who is to meet with
Department officials in Washington later this month,
subsequently issued a public denial that she opposed the
extradition.

Informal MFA Views


4. (U) Pending instructions, Charge spoke September 14 with
Renee Jones, Director General for Regional and Consular
Affairs at MFA, and asked about the ministry's views. Both
agreed to consider the conversation preliminary and informal,
designed only to clarify where each side stood.


5. (C) Jones said MFA had issued Bembe a visa but did not
know at the time he was wanted for kidnapping or that he was
the subject of an Interpol Red Notice. MFA had vetted him
through the criminal lists available to it, Jones said, and
Bembe had not shown a hit. A visa had subsequently been
issued so that Bembe could participate in efforts by the
Dutch NGO Kredda to advance peace talks regarding the Cabinda
enclave of Angola. Jones acknowledged that Bemba's
subsequent arrest had placed MFA in "an awkward" position.
That Bembe had been arrested at the Peace Palace had further
complicated matters, she said, because the building
symbolizes The Hague's role in international peace efforts.
Jones said there was a range of opinion within MFA. It had
not taken a formal position on the case "yet" but might after
hearings resume October 4. She said some in MFA believed
Bembe's role in the peace process should take precedence over
our extradition request; others did not. She also commented
that Bembe was "not Usama bin Laden."


6. (C) Charge said he could offer only his personal views
pending instructions: We had not accused Bembe of being Usama
bin Laden; we had accused him of kidnapping an innocent
person then demanding a ransom. Whatever Bembe's credentials
as a peacemaker, if he had stuck to peacemaking he would not
be in this predicament. Finally, while we acknowledged the
symbolic importance of the Peace Palace and respected The
Hague's role as a center for international justice, harboring
a fugitive would violate Dutch treaty obligations and would
hardly burnish the city's reputation as a center for
international law. In any case, officials in Washington were
following the case closely and with concern.


7. (C) Charge and Jones agreed to stay in close contact and
to try to prevent the case from becoming a media and
political circus.


8. (C) Charge and global affairs officer also met September
14 with Robert Visser, Director General for International
Affairs at the Ministry of Justice. He was fully aware of
the case, and in regular contact with Jones and the MFA. He
recommended we avoid public comment and keep our demarches
private. We too agreed to remain in contact about the case.


9. (C) ACTION REQUEST: The US Department of Justice is in
close contact with the Dutch Ministry of Justice and we do
not seek or require any guidance on legal aspects of the
case. But we would appreciate State and Justice guidance on
whether to pursue the issue at more senior levels in MFA, and
with what tact. Jones' comments were helpful but not
authoritative. We should therefore not quote them back to
the Dutch.
BLAKEMAN