UN DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL FOLLOWS BOSS IN

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000477 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KPKO KDEM CG SUBJECT: UN DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL FOLLOWS BOSS IN VISITING DRC ON FIRST OFFICIAL TRIP REF: KINSHASA 105 ¶1. (U) Asha-Rose Migiro, newly appointed United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General, followed the example set by Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-Moon (reftel) in making the DRC SIPDIS one of the stops on her first official trip since assuming the position. She met with President Joseph Kabila, Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga, Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi, Justice Minister Minsay Booka, Independent Electoral Commission President Apollinaire Malu Malu, and National Assembly deputies during a three-day trip beginning April 22. She spent April 25 in Brazzaville with UNDP representatives before departing from Kinshasa that night. ¶2. (U) In a press statement, Migiro said she had traveled to the DRC "to carry a special message from the Secretary General to the President." That message was a pledge of continued UN support to the Congolese government. Migiro said Kabila was "resolved to continue the democratization process in the country." Gizenga said he appreciated Migiro's message and "thanked the UN for its involvement in the Congo from the 1960s up to now." Tanzanian Migiro also expressed pride "as an African daughter" at the free and fair DRC elections held last year and the efforts of the National Assembly to strengthen democracy in the DRC. ¶3. (SBU) There was little made public from the Kabila meeting, but Kabila reportedly expressed disappointment over aspects of international community support, including that of MONUC, to do enough in the security sector area. Like similar meetings held with British Cooperation Minister Hilary Benn, and earlier with Belgian FM De Gucht, the tone of at least a portion of the meeting appeared to reflect current presidency disenchantment with the international community generally. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: Migiro's visit, like that of SG Ban in January, was a sign of UN commitment to its largest peacekeeping mission. It was intended to send a strong signal both of the international community's support of the DRC, and of its concern that government needs to take immediate concrete action to establish a democratic culture, deal with its economic crisis, build infrastructure and public services, and reform the security sector. ¶5. (SBU) Comment continued: The Kabila unhappiness with the international community seems to stem from clear resentment over criticism directed toward the government arising from the March 21-22 military clashes in Kinshasa, supplemented by past unhappiness with the International Committee to Accompany the Transition (CIAT) and an apparent general sense that the new Congolese government is not getting just respect or support following successful 2006 elections. End comment. MEECE