LOCAL UNHCR OFFICE ON RECRUITMENT FROM RWANDAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000547

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2017
TAGS: PREL PHUM RW
SUBJECT: LOCAL UNHCR OFFICE ON RECRUITMENT FROM RWANDAN
REFUGEE CAMPS

REF: A. KIGALI 499

B. KIGALI 217

Classified By: Ambassador Michael R. Arietti, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. Senior Protection Officer at the UNHCR
office in Kigali reports 10 recent incidents of recruitment
of child and adult combatants from refugee camps in Rwanda by
agents by General Laurent Nkunda. The GOR denies any
involvement, and says it is making efforts to prevent transit
to the DRC of any recruited Rwandans or recruited refugees.
End summary.


2. (C) On June 6, polchief met with Senior Protection
Officer Nagette Belgacem at the local UNHCR office in Kigali.
Belgacem said that since February, her office has received
from MONUC in Goma information on ten cases of young males,
ages 15 to 20, who were recruited from refugee camps in
Rwanda to serve with Nkunda (UNHCR in Kigali verifies the
names forwarded by MONUC in Goma by examining camp rosters).
Belgacem said that Nkunda operatives are entering camps on a
regular basis to solicit recruits. For example, on May 20
operatives representing Nkunda's political organization, the
CNDP (Conseil National pour la Defense du People),entered
Gihembe camp in north-central Rwanda to conduct recruiting.
A few days later on May 25, the AJRC (Association des Jeunes
Refugies Congolais),an NGO long active within Rwandan
refugee camps (and according to UNHCR, directed from Goma by
a Nkunda lieutenant, Imani Robert),entered Kizana camp to
recruit personnel. Such approaches are generally made in the
evening or on weekends, said Belgacem, when UNHCR personnel
are not in the camps.


3. (C) UNHCR Kigali has on several occasions communicated
its concern on camp recruitment to the GOR, and UNHCR and the
GOR conducted a "joint mission" in mid-May to Kiziba camp.
While at the camp, said Belgacem, UNHCR and GOR officials
explained at length to camp residents, including several camp
committees, international prohibitions on recruiting in
refugee camps, and the risk of losing one's refugee status if
implicated in recruiting. Rwandan officials uniformly denied
knowledge of any recruiting, she said, and pledged to take
strong action against refugees or Rwandans participating in
such activities. However, the reports of recruiting in late
May increased UNHCR's sense of unease, said Belgacem.
Belgacem ended the meeting with two rhetorical questions:
"How good is the Rwandan intelligence service? If you think
they are effective, would they really not be aware?"


4. (C) On June 7, MONUC Kigali Head of Office Ivan Timnev
told polchief that MONUC Goma had 130 rwandaphones in their
custody, all young men who claimed to have been recruited by
Nkunda. Nearly all said they had been enlisted under false
pretenses, usually offered some sort of civilian job with
decent pay, which turned out to be either unpaid camp labor
for Nkunda forces, or outright military training.
Subsequently the men decamped for MONUC to turn themselves
in. The actual nationality of these men was always very
difficult to determine, he said, as they came from the vast
pool of young rwandaphones who flowed back and forth across
borders with ease, and were close-mouthed about their
ultimate origins. A small number had clearly come from
Rwanda, including refugee camps.


5. (C) GOR officials routinely tell Mission officers their
government is not involved in any recruitment. For example
in March, Foreign Minister Murigande strenuously denied any
involvement in recruiting, telling Ambassador that any sort
of recruiting was against Rwanda's interest in working with
the Congolese government to stabilize the Kivus (ref B). On
June 5, Richard Masozera, security advisor to the Prime
Minister, told polchief that the GOR worked to prevent
recruited persons from crossing its borders, and the GOR had
several times arrested demobilized soldiers attempting to
cross over to join Nkunda. As he and other GOR officials
often tell us, the refugee camps are open, freely entered and
exited, with camp inhabitants regularly crossing the border
to and from the DRC on all sorts of personal and family
business. Spotting "remobilized" soldiers, or refugee
inhabitants traveling for illicit reasons, was not an easy
task, said Masozera. The GOR maintained personnel in the
camps, he said, mainly immigration officers, to keep an eye
on things, but "they can't be everywhere."


6. (C) Comment. No one we speak to claims to have proof
that the GOR assists recruiting efforts by Nkunda operatives,
in or out of refugee camps. The Rwandans tell us that nearly
everyone in the camps here is already an Nkunda supporter,
and the refugees travel freely back and forth over the
border. Policing them in such circumstances is not an easy
task, they say. Does the GOR turn a blind eye to recruiting
efforts? That might depend upon the degree to which the GOR
believes the Kabila government is actually cooperating with
it, in a search for peace in the Kivus. As discussed
extensively in reftel A ("North Kivu Situation - The View
From Rwanda") The Rwandans have their doubts. End comment.

ARIETTI