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