MUSEVENI PUSHES UNSC MEMBERS FOR ACTION ON CONGO

UNCLAS KAMPALA 001904 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS UNSC UG SUBJECT: MUSEVENI PUSHES UNSC MEMBERS FOR ACTION ON CONGO ¶1. (SBU) President Museveni summoned UN Security Council representatives (resident in Kampala) to a State House meeting on December 14 to criticize UN inaction in Congo. Museveni accused the UN of shirking its responsibility by not acting to counter "negative forces" in eastern Congo. In a calm and patient tone, he told the group of assembled diplomats to &solve it, or tell us and we will solve it.8 Later Museveni suggested, as an alternative to the Ugandan military, using Angolans as partners to clear eastern Congo. ¶2. (SBU) At one point in his presentation, Museveni had his staff hand around color photographs of a collection of hand grenades, stating that &these were gifts from the Congo,8 to be tossed into bars during the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting. His description suggested the grenades were seized from an Allied Democratic Force (ADF) unit. He asserted that the Ugandan Government had informed MONUC of 200 ADF in the Congo, but he had heard nothing back from MONUC. ¶3. (SBU) Museveni said there had been a tacit understanding at the December 5 Addis Ababa summit, of the need for &interim measures8 to deal with the situation in eastern Congo while training advanced for the Congolese military. Without looking directly at any diplomatic representative, Museveni rhetorically asked, &Where are the interim measures?8 ¶4. (SBU) On the LRA, Museveni restated his conviction that LRA commander Kony would not give up peacefully, and that any peace dialogue had to be accompanied by military pressure (&operations8). He dismissively referred to the alternative as &dialogue with a holiday,8 and said that action must be taken by March 2008 or the rainy season would give Kony another year. He did not think Kony would move to the Central African Republic at the moment, because the savannah was too open and less favorable to concealment than where he currently was in the Congo. CHRITTON