Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KINSHASA443
2006-03-15 14:56:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Kinshasa
Cable title:  

USAID/OFDA FEBRUARY VISIT TO NORTH KIVU AND

Tags:  EAID SOCI PHUM PREF CG 
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VZCZCXRO9583
RR RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR
DE RUEHKI #0443/01 0741456
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151456Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3427
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHRO/USMISSION UN ROME
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 KINSHASA 000443 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AIDAC

AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA- MMARX, CGOTTSCHALK, MSHIRLEY
AID/W FOR DCHA/FFP- TANDERSON, NCOX, TMCRAE
AID/W FOR DCHA/OTI- RJENKINS, KHUBER
AID/W FOR AFR- KO'DONNELL, JBORNS
NAIROBI FOR USAID/OFDA/ARO- JMYER,ADWYER
NAIROBI FOR USAID/FFP- DSUTHER, ADEPREZ
ROME FOR USUN FODAG- RNEWBERG
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID SOCI PHUM PREF CG
SUBJECT: USAID/OFDA FEBRUARY VISIT TO NORTH KIVU AND
ITURI


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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 KINSHASA 000443

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AIDAC

AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA- MMARX, CGOTTSCHALK, MSHIRLEY
AID/W FOR DCHA/FFP- TANDERSON, NCOX, TMCRAE
AID/W FOR DCHA/OTI- RJENKINS, KHUBER
AID/W FOR AFR- KO'DONNELL, JBORNS
NAIROBI FOR USAID/OFDA/ARO- JMYER,ADWYER
NAIROBI FOR USAID/FFP- DSUTHER, ADEPREZ
ROME FOR USUN FODAG- RNEWBERG
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID SOCI PHUM PREF CG
SUBJECT: USAID/OFDA FEBRUARY VISIT TO NORTH KIVU AND
ITURI


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


1. (U) This is the 2nd of two communications reporting
observations from the trip of the OFDA team in eastern DRC
in February 2006. Discussed here is the team's visit to
North Kivu and Ituri. In the Beni-Eringeti area of North
Kivu, USAID/OFDA partner Solidarites is implementing an
innovative program with three different assistance
packages for Ituri IDPs who have been there since 2002.
IDPs may choose to benefit from a facilitated return to
Ituri, a cash-for-work program, or a sharecropping
arrangement with local landowners. Since the IDPs' home
areas in Ituri have been stable for over a year, the
program is intended to be the final assistance offered to
this group. At the time of the visit, 311 families had
already participated in the facilitated return option, and
Solidarites was reporting that perhaps as many as 1000
families are interested. Other IDPs in the same area
have, however, been prohibited from returning to their
homes in northeastern North Kivu by FARDC troops in the
area. If the situation is not resolved, these people will
both lose the present harvest and miss the opportunity to
plant for the next season. The 35,000 IDPs in the
Kanyabayonga-Kirumba area in North Kivu have received
needed food and non-food assistance, though access to
drinking water remains a problem. These IDPs will not be
able to return home until renegade military elements
operating in the Kibirizi area of Rutshuru Territory,
believed to be allied with rebel general Laurent Nkunda,
are brought under control. A final group of IDPs in North
Kivu - those that fled the Boga-Tchabi area of Ituri in
September 2005 - could return, according to those that had
already returned and were on hand to talk to the
USAID/OFDA team during a visit to those two localities.
Planned seed and tool assistance to that area is on hold,
however, due to fighting between FARDC and Mouvement

Revolutionnaire du Congo (MRC) militiamen on the road
south of Bogoro. The joint FARDC-MONUC effort to rout
this militia has so far met only with defeat and loss of
territory. On March 10, even the main road between Bunia
and Kasenyi was cut briefly by militia activity. The
success of the militia has sent thousands of IDPs to the
area just south of Bunia. To the north of Bunia, however,
life appears to be returning rapidly to normal. Traveling
from Bunia to Mahagi by road for the first time since
2001, the USAID/OFDA team saw multi-ethnic markets,
considerable house rebuilding, and significant commercial
traffic. In a meeting with ECHO, USAID/OFDA Reps learned
that ECHO will provide 15 million euros (of ECHO's total
DRC budget of 38 million euros) in humanitarian assistance
to North Kivu and Ituri in 2006. The emphasis will be on
assisting return and reintegration programs. End Summary.

--------------
IDPs in the Beni-Eringeti Area
--------------


2. (U) On February 8, a USAID/OFDA team composed of DOS
Michelle Shirley (Washington),Senior Program Officer Jay
Nash (Kinshasa) and Program Officer Victor Bushamuka
(Kinshasa) traveled to Beni in North Kivu to assess the
progress and impact of the work of OFDA partner
Solidarites in a project to assist Ituri IDPs remaining in
the area.


3. (U) There are now three distinct groups of IDPs in the
area between Beni and the Ituri border: an estimated
25,000 to 30,000 remaining from the original 100,000 who
fled ethnic fighting in Ituri in 2002; an additional
10,000 Iturians who arrived in Eringeti in August-
September 2005 as a result of MRC militia activity in the
Boga and Tchabi; and 50,000 people from the eastern part
of northern North Kivu who came in December and January as
a result of FARDC-MONUC operations against the NALU
Ugandan rebel group.


4. (U) The OFDA-funded project implemented by Solidarites

KINSHASA 00000443 002 OF 006


since October 2005 targets specifically the first of these
groups, the original Ituri IDPs, and is intended to be the
final assistance offered them. Most of these people come
from areas in Ituri that have been calm for two years now,
and most of the group long-ago returned home. Those who
go back benefit from a return-facilitation program run by
NGO Premiere Urgence in Komanda, Ituri, the first major
town in Ituri on the road north between the North Kivu
border and Bunia. Premiere Urgence provides returnees
with seeds and tools financed with OFDA funding, non-food
items (NFI) financed by ECHO, and a food ration supplied
by WFP.


5. (U) Solidarites has been assisting this group of Ituri
IDPs in North Kivu with OFDA funding through food
distributions and the provision of safe water since they
arrived in August and December of 2002. In full agreement
with the humanitarian community in the province that it
was time for the remaining IDPs to decide to either stay
permanently in North Kivu or return home, but not wanting
to be accused of pushing people to return when they were
not yet ready, Solidarites decided to offer a final
program consisting of three different assistance options.
For those who are ready to return home, Solidarites
provides transportation to main towns in Ituri and
coordinates their arrival with the NGOs delivering return
assistance there (principally Premiere Urgence and GAA -
German Agro Action). For those who plan to return to
Ituri eventually but claim not to be yet ready (because
they have crops planted in North Kivu not yet ready for
harvest, have continuing security concerns, or have
children in the middle of the school year, etc.),
Solidarties offers a cash-for-work program rehabilitating
key infrastructure in North Kivu that had suffered damage
during the war to help these families earn the cash
reserves needed to make the trip back to Ituri at a later
time. For those deciding to remain indefinitely in North
Kivu, Solidarites arranges sharecropping opportunities
with local landowners and provides seeds and tools.


6. (U) Solidarities originally planned for 1000 families
to participate in the return program, 1250 in the cash-for-
work program, and 2500 in the agricultural program. At
the time of OFDA's visit, 311 families had already taken
the Solidarities bus to Ituri. Indications are that many
more than the original 1000 families are now interested in
participating in the return program, and Solidarities will
be requesting a budget realignment to reflect this change
in beneficiary priorities. (Nearly all of the IDPs with
whom OFDA reps spoke in various locations during the visit
claimed to be waiting only for transportation assistance.)
According to all the NGOs involved (Solidarities on the
sending side, and Premiere Urgence and GAA on the
receiving side),the program continues to proceed
smoothly. Solidarities plans to undertake a systematic
evaluation in March to confirm these impressions.


7. (U) OFDA Reps visited a road rehabilitation project and
tree-nursery sites of a reforestation project which are
part of the cash-for-work option where IDPs, having
decided to stay longer, are earning $66 each for one
month's labor. Conversations with these IDPs suggested
that many were as yet undecided as to their future plans.
They appeared to be still weighing their options, with the
cash-for-work program allowing them a bit more time to do
this. OFDA Reps did not have the opportunity to visit the
fields of those participating in the agricultural
sharecropping program, but did speak with some of the
participating IDPs, who seemed relatively satisfied with
the arrangement.

-------------- ---
New Northern North Kivu Population Displacements
-------------- ---


8. (U) Beginning December 24, 2005, FARDC troops, with
MONUC logistical assistance, began a military offensive
against elements of the NALU Ugandan rebel group who had
long resided in northeastern North Kivu. The humanitarian

KINSHASA 00000443 003 OF 006


community had expected the action, contingency plans had
been drawn up, and humanitarian supplies pre-positioned.
The NALU group had the previous month ignored an ultimatum
to surrender their arms at a specially designated office
in Beni, and there had been a major buildup of FARDC
troops throughout December. Many humanitarians
nevertheless deplore the campaign, expressing the view
that it was conducted purely for political reasons at the
expense of the local population. They note that the NALU,
unlike many armed groups in the country, lived
harmoniously with the local inhabitants and did not
constitute a real military threat to the Ugandan
government. They report that many of the NALU are now, in
fact, Congolese. Although the FARDC now claims to have
successfully chased the NALU from Congolese soil,
observers in the area believe that many of the NALU have
simply retreated deep into the Ruwenzori Mountains on the
border separating the two countries.


9. (U) The area where military operations occurred is,
fortunately, not heavily populated. Nevertheless, a
displacement of an estimated 65,000 persons is reported by
UNOCHA for the period December 2005 to January 2006. Most
fled westward to the Beni-Eringeti-Bunia road, where they
established new IDP camps and have received humanitarian
assistance. A substantial number are pygmy communities.
About 16,500 people fled to Kamango on the border with
Uganda, a location reachable from the rest of North Kivu
only by motorcycle. Assistance provided to these IDPs has
been minimal. Another group that has not received
sufficient attention is one of 25,000 IDPs who fled to
Isale, a town east of Butembo and Beni. Though they have
received some NFI assistance, no food has been
distributed. UNOCHA claims to have asked WFP repeatedly
in the month since the arrival of these IDPs to provide
food, but the WFP reports they are completely occupied
with serving the IDPs from the Rutshuru crisis now staying
in the Kanyabayonga area and will not have the means to do
a distribution in Isale until that operation is concluded.


10. (U) For the entire month of February, the humanitarian
community in North Kivu remained extremely concerned
because, though the military campaign in the northeastern
corner of North Kivu was officially over, the FARDC had
prohibited the displaced populations from returning to
their home areas. The reasons given were that 1) these
communities collaborate with the NALU and 2) many of these
people live and farm illegally in Virunga National Park.
However, many among the humanitarian community and local
population voiced the view that the FARDC simply wanted to
profit from what the populations left behind in their
fields. As these populations needed to be harvesting, as
well as preparing the fields for the March-April planting
season, and would become dependent on humanitarian
assistance if not permitted access to their home
communities, humanitarians lobbied the government to have
the FARDC cease prohibiting IDP returns. Orders to this
effect were issued on March 7 and 8, but preliminary
reports are that many of those who attempted to return
were beaten. UNOCHA in Goma brought this to the attention
of the regional military commander, who attributed it to a
communications problem, and promised to remedy the
situation immediately.

--------------
Kanyabayonga
--------------


11. (U) The OFDA team did not have sufficient time to
travel southward from Beni to the part of North Kivu that
has been affected by the ethnically based conflict within
the ranks of the FARDC in the Rutshuru area, but was told
by UNOCHA that there are currently 35,000 to 50,000 IDPs
in the towns of Kanyabayonga, Kayna, Kirumba, Kamandi and
Kikuvo -- the first towns high up in the mountains
traveling north from the plain at the southern end of Lake
Edward. The IDPs are from the Kibirizi-Nyanzale-Kashalira
area in Rutshuru Territory, northwest of Rutshuru, which
has seen considerable instability since the clashes

KINSHASA 00000443 004 OF 006


between the integrated 5th brigade of FARDC and the mostly
Rwandaphone, non-integrated, ex-RCD/Goma 83rd brigade in
Rutshuru in January. These IDPs are staying largely with
host families, and most immediate humanitarian needs,
including medical care and food aid, have largely been
met. Water supply remains a problem, however, since local
water sources are insufficient to meet the increased
demand. NGOs specializing in water and sanitation are
currently investigating the possibilities for augmenting
water availability.


12. (U) The humanitarian community is of the view that it
is essential that FARDC leadership move quickly to
neutralize the disruptive potential of the renegade 83rd
brigade, believed by many people in Goma to have direct
ties to rebel General Laurent Nkunda, so that the Kibirizi-
area IDPs can return home and resume their livelihoods
before they become long-term dependents on assistance in
Kanyabayonga. MONUC is now reporting the situation to
have calmed down considerably, and some IDP families have
sent "scouts" back to look after their fields and to
reevaluate the security situation. A battalion of FARDC
now protects some 10,000 residents of Kibirizi and its
environs who huddled in Kibirizi rather than flee, but the
insurgent elements of the 83rd brigade are believed to be
not far away. These people have told UNOCHA that they do
not want any humanitarian assistance for the moment, since
they fear this would certainly draw the insurgents into
town, quickly overpowering the 300 FARDC troops currently
there to protect them. Their first priority is to have
MONUC forces deployed to the area.

--------------
The Boga-Tchabi Area of Ituri
--------------


13. (U) Following its visit to North Kivu, the OFDA team
traveled to the towns of Boga and Tchabi in southern Ituri
near the North Kivu border. Much of the population of
these towns fled to North Kivu in August 2005 when the MRC
militia briefly occupied this part of Ituri. The MRC was
eventually chased out of the area by a joint FARDC-MONUC
operation, and local authorities in Boga told OFDA that
most of the population had now returned home. Since there
are still some 10,000 Boga-area IDPs in the camp in
Eringeti, North Kivu, it would seem that primarily those
IDPs who did not flee all the way to Eringeti but rather
stopped in Kainama, the first town across the border, have
returned so far. As Kainama can be reached via Beni only
by motorcycle, these IDPs were never able to participate
in any assistance program. Since IDPs with whom OFDA had
spoken several days earlier in the camp in Eringeti had
claimed that continuing insecurity near Boga was their
reason for not returning home, OFDA Reps asked people in
Boga if this fear was justified. All Boga interlocutors,
however, were unhesitant in stating that security had been
sufficiently reestablished throughout the area to permit a
safe return for all.


14. (U) OFDA partner Premiere Urgence has reopened a base
in Boga after being forced to leave for security reasons
nearly a year ago. They had planned to provide seed and
tool support to returned IDPs there in March.
Unfortunately, the road from Bunia to Boga passes through
the Aveba-Gety-Tcheyi area, which during the week of
February 27 was the scene of heavy fighting between FARDC
troops and militiamen of the MRC under the direction of
warlords Cobra and Dark. Due partially to fighting among
themselves, FARDC troops had, by the end of the week, lost
control of most of the territory south of Kagaba,
including the large towns of Aveba and Gety. Unless
control of this area is quickly regained, Premiere Urgence
will not be able to move seeds to Boga in time for the
agricultural season now starting, and Boga and Tchabi will
remain completely cut off from the rest of Ituri.


15. (U) During the OFDA visit, civil authorities in Boga,
who are all (southern) Hema, expressed an eagerness to
find ways to promote an environment of peace and

KINSHASA 00000443 005 OF 006


reconciliation between the various ethnic groups in the
area (Hema, Ngiti and Nyali). They felt that the Boga
area was fertile ground for such activities, since none of
the groups harbored particularly strong feelings against
each other. The war, they said, was something that had
largely come down on them from the Lendu-Gegere (northern
Hema) conflict further north in Ituri, forcing the various
populations to choose sides, but now there was a strong
desire to restore normal relations. As an example of the
lack of interethnic hostility, the administrative head of
Boga showed OFDA the 50-some Ngiti IDPs that had fled
militia activity in the Tcheyi area and are now camped
just outside his home.

--------------
IDPs in the Bogoro-Cantonnier Area
--------------


16. (U) On March 6, USAID/OFDA partner GAA reported to
OFDA that approximately 5000 Ngiti people had fled the
FARDC-MRC fighting in the Aveba-Gety area of southern
Ituri the previous day and were now camped out along the
road between Bogoro and Bunia in the vicinity of
Cantonnier village, about 20 minutes southeast of Bunia.
Others began arriving in Bunia itself. According to GAA's
sources, on March 9 many women and children of this group
moved up the nearby hills to the Lendu-dominant Nzumbe
area, leaving behind the men and male youth, who on March
10 attacked positions of the FARDC contingent at Bogoro
and temporarily blocked the road through Bogoro to Kasenyi
on Lake Albert. This group is assumed to be working in
concert with the MRC troops putting pressure on the FARDC
troops 15 kilometers south of Bogoro in Kagaba. As Bogoro
is located high up at the juncture of the roads to Bunia,
Kasenye and Aveba, the town has high strategic importance.
Much of southern Ituri will have to be viewed as having
slipped back into serious insecurity if FARDC and MONUC
cannot maintain control of it.

--------------
Progress in Central Ituri
--------------


17. (U) Security has improved dramatically in "central"
Ituri, just north of Bunia, and the OFDA team was able to
travel to Mahagi by road from Bunia -- a trip which would
have been highly dangerous only six months ago due to the
continued presence in the area of well-organized, non-
demobilized militia groups (mostly FNI). Joint FARDC-
MONUC operations in Djugu Territory over the last year are
believed by many observers to have seriously weakened
these groups and pushed them back to defensive positions
in the bush. Since then, the Djugu area -- which was the
part of Ituri where all the ethnic fighting began in 1998
and which has often since been the area most torn by
ethnic conflict -- has made remarkable progress toward
returning to normalcy.


18. (U) The team found Fataki -- which for years had
remained largely an abandoned city due to ethnic violence
-- to be bustling with commercial activity and to once
again have become a popular truck stop. Trucks loaded
with commercial goods traveling from as far away as Aru
and Ariwara in northern Ituri and headed toward Bunia are
now a common sight. Though the main road between Fataki
and Bunia, passing through Iga Barriere and Djugu, is
still reportedly in very bad shape, several trucks per day
nevertheless make it through.


19. (U) Using an alternative route that bypasses Djugu
(but which unfortunately has three small bridges making
the route unsuitable for heavy traffic),the OFDA team saw
several mixed Gegere-Lendu markets which appeared to be
thriving. Houses were being rebuilt all along the road,
and people were very much out and about, including Lendu
pedestrians in the Gegere area and vice versa. The recent
success of the MRC militia against MONUC and FARDC in
southern Ituri may yet encourage the northern militias to
reorganize and resume activity (especially if the

KINSHASA 00000443 006 OF 006


stalemate continues long term and if the situation
continues to demand serious FARDC and MONUC attention). It
is certainly the case that the land-use issues that
triggered the interethnic fighting in the first place have
not yet been addressed, but for the time being at least,
central Ituri looks very much like a return to peace and
normalcy is in full swing.

--------------
European Humanitarian Assistance
--------------


20. (U) In Goma, the OFDA team had a long conversation
with the new ECHO representative for North Kivu and Ituri,
who told the team that of the 38 million euros ECHO had
allocated for the Congo this year (not including funds
used to finance ECHO's airplanes),a full 15 million euros
would be budgeted for North Kivu and Ituri. Of this, he
said, Ituri would get the bulk of the funding, and the
assistance would be primarily directed to facilitating the
return and reintegration of IDPs.
MEECE