ANTOINE GIZENGA NAMED PRIME MINISTER

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000001

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: ANTOINE GIZENGA NAMED PRIME MINISTER

REF: A. KINSHASA 1928

B. KINSHASA 1939


1. (U) Summary: President Kabila named Antoine Gizenga as
Prime Minister of the Third Republic on December 30.
Gizenga's nomination was expected since his Unified Party of
Lumumbists (PALU) entered into a coalition with Kabila's
Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP) in October
before the second round of national elections. The Prime
Minister's first official function will be convening the
National Assembly on January 6. Gizenga will then form the
new Cabinet, a process that has informally been underway for
several weeks. End summary.


2. (U) Antoine Gizenga, leader of the Unified Party of
Lumumbists (PALU) and Patrice Lumumba's former Vice Prime
Minister in 1960, was formally named Prime Minister of the
DRC's Third Republic on December 30. Gizenga's appointment
was expected since he aligned his PALU party behind President
Kabila in the October 2006 presidential election runoff.


3. (U) Gizenga will convene the National Assembly on January
6, whereupon it will install its new Permanent Bureau (ref
B). His most important challenge during his first weeks as
Prime Minister will be to form the new government. A Cabinet
of more than fifty ministers and vice ministers will be
named, and the new Cabinet will be installed after the Prime
Minister's nominations are approved by the National Assembly.


4. (SBU) Gizenga and his staff will occupy offices at the
Primature used during the Transition by Vice President Bemba
and his staff. Gizenga's staff went to the offices on
January 2, and Gizenga himself briefly visited on January 3.
They reportedly found some offices without furniture,
computers, electricity and/or water. Currently, the Prime
Minister is working from his home, although temporary space
may be requested if the renovation work on the Primature
offices proves lengthy. PALU officials have already told the
press that delays in occupying his formal offices may delay
announcement of the new Cabinet past the January 10 date they
had previously floated as a target.


5. (SBU) Bio notes: Antoine Gizenga Fundji was born in 1925
in Bandundu province. Gizenga dedicated himself to the
anti-colonial struggle beginning in 1959, and formed the
Party of African Solidarity with Cleophas Kamitatu. Gizenga
became Vice Prime Minister under Patrice Lumumba in 1960.
After Lumumba was arrested, Gizenga organized resistance in
Kisangani while awaiting Lumumba's return, fleeing that city
in 1964. Although freed from house arrest by Mobutu in 1965,
Gizenga went into exile in the USSR, Angola, and Europe and
did not return to his country until 1990. Gizenga
participated in the National Sovereign Conference in 1991 and
is a signatory to the 2002 Sun City Global and All Inclusive
Agreement. He finished third in the DRC's first-round
presidential election with 13 percent of the vote, and his
PALU party won 34 seats in the post-transition National
Assembly elections, in July 2006. He formed a coalition with
the Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP) when he
announced PALU's support for Joseph Kabila for the Presidency
in October 2006, which brought Kabila significant support in
both Bandundu and Kinshasa. Although highly disciplined and
capable, the 81-year-old Gizenga keeps to a strict but
relatively short daily schedule and some observers question
whether he has the physical stamina to manage the hectic
schedule required of a Prime Minister. More comprehensive
biodata on Gizenga will follow septel.
DOUGHERTY