UDPS SHOWS PUBLIC SPLIT OVER POSSIBLE ALLIANCE

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001508 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS SUBJECT: UDPS SHOWS PUBLIC SPLIT OVER POSSIBLE ALLIANCE WITH BEMBA REF: KINSHASA 1505 ¶1. (U) Summary. Infighting among members of DR Congo's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party spilled over into the public September 26 when several members issued a communique supporting the presidential candidacy of Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) party is attempting to portray the action as evidence of UDPS support. Party founder Etienne Tshisekedi remains silent. End summary. SIPDIS ¶2. (U) Two UDPS members announced September 26 that the party would support Vice President Bemba in the second round of DR Congo's presidential elections October 29. According to UDPS members present at the announcement, Zephyrin Diayikwa and Raymond Mukoka signed a statement on behalf of the College of Founders, a party consultative body. It was not signed by UDPS president and longtime Congolese opposition politician Etienne Tshisekedi. ¶3. (U) The announcement did not take place at UDPS headquarters, but at Mukoka's residence in the Gombe neighborhood of Kinshasa. UDPS spokesman Jean-Baptiste Bomanza and two members of the party's National Committee, Gaston Dyndo and Emmanuel Kwakenda, were also in attendance. UDPS speakers charged that senior UDPS officials Valentin Mubake and Remy Masamba were "rebels" for releasing an earlier communique (reftel) disavowing UDPS support for either presidential candidate. ¶4. (SBU) The College of Founders functions as a "moral authority" for the party, but is not empowered to take action or speak for it. This role is reserved for the UDPS National Committee or the national secretariat, which are led by Mubake and Masamba. They also have greater access to Tshisekedi. SIPDIS ¶5. (SBU) Francois Muamba, secretary-general of Bemba's MLC party, appeared on state-controlled RTNC later that evening with a document he claimed was signed by the UDPS College of Founders and which granted the party's support to Bemba. Although Muamba did not say who had signed the document, he was presumably referring to the Diayikwa-Mukoku communique. ¶6. (SBU) Muamba's declaration of UDPS support may stem from his personal connections to the party and Tshisekedi. Before joining the MLC, Muamba's was one of the UDPS's spokesmen in Europe. Muamba is also a native Kasaian, born in the same region of Eastern Kasai province as Tshisekedi. Muamba is also related by marriage to the UDPS leader, who advised his supporters to vote for Muamba in the July 30 legislative elections. Muamba won his district with nearly 97 percent of the votes cast. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: Tshisekedi has said nothing publicly. The MLC would like to make it look as if Bemba has UDPS support, but until Tshisekedi signs or says something, anything anyone else claims is moot. The shared conclusion of the usually hardline Mubake and the moderate Masamba that the UDPS is endorsing neither candidate looks to be a more accurate signpost of the current reality inside the party. The Diayikwa-Mukoku communique only serves to underline the growing public profile of its fragmentation. End comment. MEECE