Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PARIS2425
2006-04-12 16:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

CABINDA/ANGOLA: FLEC CONFUSED ABOUT USG INTENTIONS

Tags:  PREL PINR PINS PHUM AO FR 
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VZCZCXRO1268
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHFR #2425/01 1021640
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 121640Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6260
INFO RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA 0734
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 1294
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 1045
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0872
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 2432
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0029
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 0988
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002425 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR L (DAVID BUCHHOLZ)
KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PINR PINS PHUM AO FR
SUBJECT: CABINDA/ANGOLA: FLEC CONFUSED ABOUT USG INTENTIONS

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reason 1
.4 (b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002425

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR L (DAVID BUCHHOLZ)
KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PINR PINS PHUM AO FR
SUBJECT: CABINDA/ANGOLA: FLEC CONFUSED ABOUT USG INTENTIONS

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reason 1
.4 (b/d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: During an April 11 meeting, FLEC (Front
for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda) representative
Antonio Nzita Bembe (Nzita) revealed divisions in the ranks
of the Cabinda "resistance" movement caused by the apparent
defection of former FLEC/Renovada head Antonio Bembe (Bento
Bembe, no relation) and his apparent decision to cooperate
with Angolan authorities. Nzita asked for U.S. views on
Bembe, who had been in Dutch custody pursuant to a
U.S.-initiated arrest warrant stemming from Bento Bembe's
involvement in the 1989 abduction of an amcit oil worker.
Bento Bembe fled the Netherlands in October 2005 and has
resurfaced publicly in Africa, according to Nzita, who
claimed FLEC had since expelled Bento Bembe for working with
Angolan authorities to weaken and divide FLEC (and, by
implication, foster Cabinda reconciliation with Luanda).
Nzita asked for U.S. views on Bento Bembe and whether the
U.S. had requested suspension of the arrest warrant. Nzita
also claimed that the Angolan Government was pressing the USG
to designate FLEC as a terrorist organization. Embassy would
appreciate guidance from the Department (see Action Request,
para 6). END SUMMARY.


2. (C) We met with FLEC representative Antonio Nzita Bembe
(Nzita) on April 11 at his request. Nzita explained that
there were, until August 2004, two FLEC factions -- FLEC/FAC
(headed by his father, Nzita Henriques Tiago) and
FLEC/Renovada (headed by Antonio Bento Bembe). When the two
FLECs joined together in 2004 to create a unified FLEC, Nzita
Henriques Tiago assumed control of the two organizations.
Bento Bembe retained the title of Secretary General. Nzita
said that he (Nzita) was the official FLEC representative in
Western Europe.


3. (C) Nzita focused the discussion on Bento Bembe, former
head of the FLEC/Renovada faction. Nzita said that Bento
Bembe was involved in the 1989 kidnapping of an amcit oil

worker, a crime that led to at least one other FLEC member's
trial and imprisonment in the U.S. (NOTE: Nzita repeatedly
said the kidnapping took place in 1980, but our research
indicates it happened in 1989. END NOTE.) Nzita said the
USG had initiated an international arrest warrant for Bento
Bembe for his role in the kidnapping, and he was eventually
taken into custody by the Dutch, who allowed him provisional
liberty or unsupervised house arrest. Last fall, Vice FM
Chicote of Angola reportedly visited Bento Bembe in the
Netherlands and held a secret meeting that Bento Bembe did
not coordinate with the FLEC, according to Nzita. A week
later Bento Bembe fled to Africa, Nzita claimed. Bento Bembe
has since been seen publicly in Angola and other places, and
Nzita said that Bento Bembe has been broadcasting anti-FLEC
messages from Pointe Noire, Kinshasa, and Brazzaville,
supposedly with the financial support and encouragement of
the Angolan Government. In February 2006, FLEC stripped
Bento of his remaining titles -- Secretary General of FLEC's
unified front and president of the FLEC Cabinda Forum --
following a February 2006 video-teleconference meeting of the
FLEC "parliament," the "Nkoto Lelanda," with representatives
in Paris, Libreville, Kinshasa, Brazzaville and Cabinda.


4. (C) Nzita grudgingly admitted that Bento Bembe, in
effect, appeared to have decided to break with FLEC and to
come in from the bush and work for reconciliation with the
GOA. Again, reluctantly, Nzita revealed that Bento Bembe had
ties to Mpalabanda, a Catholic NGO for Cabinda, that he
asserted works with U.S. Embassy Luanda, Human Rights Watch,
and Amnesty International in documenting Angolan human rights
abuses. Nzita said that Father George Kongo of Mpalabanda
was friendly with Bento Bembe.


5. (C) Nzita asked whether Bento Bembe was still subject to
a USG-instigated international arrest warrant, and requested,
indirectly, whether the USG condoned Bento Bembe's
collaboration with the Angolan Government, perhaps in order
to weaken FLEC (which the GOA wants the USG to designate as a
terrorist group). Nzita repeated a rumor that Bento Bembe
had been received at Embassy Kinshasa recently.


6. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Post would appreciate any update on
Bento Bembe with respect to the international arrest warrant

PARIS 00002425 002 OF 002


and his flight from the Netherlands, along with appropriate
guidance regarding FLEC and future contacts with its
representatives.


7. (SBU) We asked Nzita Bembe why FLEC approached Embassy
Paris rather than the Department or Embassy Luanda, but he
did not answer directly. Nzita said he would provide FLEC
contact information in Washington, which we will forward to
the Department.


8. (C) BIO: Antonio Nzita Bembe is the son of FLEC leader
Nzita Henriques Tiago, and claims to have refugee status in
France, where he has lived since 1989. He studied law at
Dijon and resides in Nevers, where he claims to orchestrate
FLEC activities full-time. Nzita said he had last been in
Cabinda 10 years ago, making his way via Kinshasa to join up
with resistance fighters. Nzita reports he was a regular
Embassy contact pre-9/11, but has had little contact since
then.



Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton