CHILD SOLDIER RECRUITMENT A DIMINISHING PROBLEM IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000319

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KPKO RW CG
SUBJECT: CHILD SOLDIER RECRUITMENT A DIMINISHING PROBLEM IN
DRC

REF: A. KINSHASA 297

B. KINSHASA 98

C. KINSHASA 65

Classified By: PolOff CBrown, reasons 1.4 b/d.


1. (C) Summary: A senior UN official proclaimed the DRC's
child soldier problem is "essentially over," but charged that
dissident general Laurent Nkunda is recruiting child soldiers
from refugee camps in Rwanda. Humanitarian officials report
more than 100 child soldiers have been separated from
Nkunda's ranks, including some reportedly recruited in the
DRC and Rwanda in the past several months. Congolese
demobilization authorities agree the number of child soldiers
in the DRC is now greatly reduced. Those remaining are mostly
found in local militia groups. End summary.

--------------
A POSITIVE ASSESSMENT OF SITUATION
--------------


2. (U) Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Undersecretary General for
Children and Armed Conflict, gave a positive assessment of
the DRC's child soldier situation during a March 4-9 visit to
the country (ref A). She said recruitment is "essentially
over," but added that much work remains to reintegrate them
into society. Coomaraswamy added that she was pleased that
Congolese officials are treating the subject as a high
priority.


3. (SBU) Daniel Kawata, the coordinator of the Congolese
national disarmament agency CONADER, told us March 13 that
the problem of child soldiers and their recruitment has
diminished significantly in the past several years. He said
that since CONADER began its activities in 2003, more than
29,000 children have been identified and removed from various
armed groups, although many still need to be reunited with
their families.


4. (SBU) Kawata estimated that approximately 3,000 child
soldiers still remain in the DRC, mostly with militias in
Ituri District and with Mayi-Mayi groups in the Kivu
provinces and northern Katanga. MONUC's Child Protection
division reported in early March that 32 children, including
28 boys and four girls, were removed from the Balenie
Mayi-Mayi group in North Kivu after being identified at a
military integration center. Nearly four dozen children were
separated from Peter Karim's Front for National Integration
(FNI) militia after his forces surrendered to the Congolese
military in February and March. Kawata added that a handful
of children are also suspected of serving in the protection
details of transitional vice presidents Jean-Pierre Bemba and
Azarias Ruberwa.

--------------
ACCUSATIONS OF CONTINUED RECRUITMENT
--------------


5. (C) Despite her generally positive assessment,
Coomaraswamy charged that child soldier recruitment continues
in the DRC and elsewhere in the region. In a March 1 letter
to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, she accused agents of
dissident General Laurent Nkunda of recruiting children in
the Kibuye refugee camp in Rwanda (ref A). Post has obtained
a copy of the letter, which states that child protection
officials in the DRC interviewed two boys in mid-February who
had been separated from pro-Nkunda troops in North Kivu. They
said they had been recruited from the camp with nine other
children and 17 adults in mid-January 2007. The boys also
claimed the NGO "Association of Young Congolese Refugees,"
allegedly linked to Nkunda, has actively recruited children
in Kibuye since July 2006.


6. (C) MONUC's Child Protection division in Goma, North Kivu,
reported March 12 that it had interviewed two other boys,
ages 16 and 17, who claimed they had been recruited by Nkunda
agents in the Byumba refugee camp in Rwanda, also in
mid-January. They said they were recruited with two other
children and forced to serve as cooks in the "mixed" Bravo
Brigade of the Congolese national army (FARDC). (Note: The
so-called "mixed" brigades in North Kivu combine pro-Nkunda
troops and pro-government Congolese military forces in single
units. They were created as part of ceasefire deal between
Nkunda and the GDRC in December 2006, refs B and C. End
note.) MONUC Child Protection reported the boys were issued
military uniforms and identification cards for Bravo during

KINSHASA 00000319 002 OF 002


its registration phase in late January. They later deserted
the Bravo camp for Goma, where they were detained by military
authorities.


7. (C) Humanitarian officials report more than 200 other
children have been identified in the past several months
within the former 81st and 83rd FARDC brigades, which were
generally pro-Nkunda, and now form part of the "mixed"
brigades. OCHA-North Kivu Director Patrick Lavand'homme told
PolOff in early February in Goma that his office had received
reports of forcible recruitment of children from schools in
Masisi territory in western North Kivu, Nkunda's base of
operations. He added that OCHA and UNICEF officials had
identified 162 children from the 81st and 83rd between
December and February during the registration process for the
"mixed" brigades. Lavand'homme said those children
interviewed said they were recruited beginning in late
November. OCHA spokesman Andrew Zadel said in a mid-February
press report that 257 children had been found among the three
"mixed" brigades in North Kivu.


8. (C) Lavand'homme said March 15 many more children remain
under the control of pro-Nkunda forces in some of the "mixed"
brigades as of early March. He alleged that Colonel Makenga
Fulsani, formerly a commander with the 83rd and currently the
commander of the "mixed" Bravo Brigade deployed in Rutshuru
territory, has refused to release child soldiers in his ranks
because he does not believe they qualify as "children."

-------------- --------------
COMMENT: AN ONGOING PROBLEM, BUT GREATLY IMPROVED
-------------- --------------


9. (C) Child soldiers still exist in the DRC, almost
exclusively in groups not under the government's control, but
their numbers are greatly reduced from years past. The
continued demobilization of the DRC's various armed groups
will help reduce their number even further. Renegade General
Laurent Nkunda and his followers have long been implicated in
such affairs and apparently continues to recruit, as
evidenced by the new reports. End comment.
MEECE