SENATE PRESIDENT LAYS OUT HIS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000667 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG SUBJECT: SENATE PRESIDENT LAYS OUT HIS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA REF: A. KINSHASA 590 ¶B. KINSHASA 528 Classified By: Poloff KRBel for reasons 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (U) Summary: Leon Kengo wa Dondo, the newly-elected president of the Senate, highlighted his legislative priorities in his first formal meeting with the Ambassador. His priorities include the draft budget, the law on the opposition, the judicial sector law creating the governing body for magistrates, and creating successor institutions for the electoral commission and the media authority. While he addressed inadequacies in the security sector, he did not propose specific reforms. Kengo acknowledged the importance of the law on decentralization and emphasized adequate environmental laws as immediate necessities, albeit in the context of mining and forestry commercial operations. He indicated that the Senate, like the Assembly, would also call for a follow-on extraordinary session when the current plenary session ends on June 15. End summary. ¶2. (C) Leon Kengo wa Dondo met formally with the Ambassador for the first time in his new capacity as President of the Senate (ref B) on June 12 to discuss the work of the Senate in the coming months. Kengo confirmed the importance of legislative initiatives including passing the budget and voting on a law on the role of the opposition. He also addressed the critical importance of crafting a viable law on decentralization as well as a key justice sector law to establish the High Council of Magistrates, the independent body which will regulate and discipline Congolese magistrates. In response to the Ambassador's urging, Kengo also confirmed that creation of the successor bodies to the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) and High Media Authority (HAM) were immediate priorities. Kengo acknowledged the decentralization law will include many sensitive and difficult points, but nonetheless expressed the hope that it would be passed before the end of 2007. Kengo somewhat unexpectedly cited environmental laws -- which he defined as laws governing mining and timber interests -- as urgent objectives for the coming months. ¶3. (C) Citing decentralization as "a complex problem" whose complexity "seems to be increasing," Kengo noted some of the struggles of provincial governments operating without a legal framework. The retrocession of forty percent of local revenues stipulated in the Constitution, while eagerly anticipated by local governmental bodies, cannot occur until the implementing law is passed and sub-levels of local governance are operational (septel). He commented on several provinces where battles are underway between the provincial assemblies and their governors, and Kengo said the assemblies are "not following procedures." He emphasized that the national government needs to build a viable framework, detailing the rights and responsibilities of the provincial and national governments. Although he expected initial legislation to be adopted by the end of the year, numerous details must be addressed and additional laws will be required to actually accomplish effective decentralization. ¶4. (C) Kengo's focus on environmental laws, which he defined as those laws required to govern the mining and timber industries, was unexpected. He stated that while he was not anti-mining, he did want better management of the environment. He described the "bad situation" around Lubumbashi, with artisanal miners operating in dangerous situations. He also cited the poor management of timber resources, claiming that the Congo had 45 percent of African forests and almost one-quarter of the world's forests. He decried the poor infrastructure surrounding these both of these revenue sources, and the lack of benefits -- from schools, to hospitals, to jobs -- resulting from them. He stated that a significant priority for the GDRC was to "fix the rules" for sustainable development and apply them in a way that would help "reconstruct" the Congo. ¶5. (C) Kengo said that the Senate's examination of the draft budget will be one of the central priorities for the extraordinary session scheduled to follow the current plenary session. The draft budget was approved by the National Assembly on June 14 and will now be forwarded to the Senate for its review and recommendations. ¶6. (C) Kengo, who is officially an independent, also identified the law regulating the opposition as a key priority. Kengo spoke of the opposition as being a multi-faceted, rather than a monolithic, group; he called for KINSHASA 00000667 002 OF 002 a collegial and cohesive leader who would represent its diverse membership as well as defining its legislative goals. (Comment: Kengo, an Equateur-based political veteran drawing on the same regional base as Jean-Pierre Bemba, did not bring up Bemba by name. He did confirm -- when asked -- that Bemba had not yet forwarded a request for an extension of his authorized leave from the Senate, although he expected one to be submitted. Predictably, he stated that he would be glad to authorize continued leave for Bemba if and when he did receive such a request. End comment.) ¶7. (C) Kengo offered strong criticism of the FARDC and general security situation, but proposed little in the way of improvement. He expected the tense situation in North Kivu to be raised during the June 21 visit to Kinshasa by UN Security Council members. While conceding that an intercommunity dialogue in the Kivus is necessary, he also claimed that the real problem was not "within the community," but instead originated from outside the country. He agreed that renegade general Laurent Nkunda must be "neutralized," but in a peaceful manner, and noted that militias such as the FDLR/Interahamwe continue to cause significant problems in the region. He claimed flatly that the risk of war is much stronger now than during the 2006 presidential elections, and that the armed forces (FARDC) are still incapable of adequate response. ¶8. (C) Comment: Kengo's absence from the political scene during his nine-year exile in Belgium gives him a freedom to criticize much that has been done (or not done) on Kabila's watch -- a situation which he seems to be enjoying. His success in outmaneuvering the Kabila-aligned AMP candidate for the Senate presidency, despite the AMP's majority in the Senate and his own nominal "independent" status, underscores his abilities as a political operator. In fact, Kengo is widely seen as a de facto leading opposition politician, and most certainly harbors broader political ambitions beyond the Senate presidency. As a very experienced political operator and with no particular ideological focus, he positions and expresses himself well, keeping open his options for pragmatic discussions within the DRC political world as well as with Western and other foreign representatives. Although 72 years old, he appeared dynamic, engaged, very focused, and in good health. End comment. ¶9. (U) Bio Notes: Leon Kengo wa Dondo, born Leon Lubicz in 1935 in Equateur province to an ethnic Tutsi mother and Polish father, was former president Mobutu's longest-serving prime minister. He began his career in the public prosecutor's office in 1958, becoming deputy prosecutor of the Republic in 1960 and deputy prosecutor to the Supreme Court in 1961; he subsequently obtained a law degree from the Free University of Brussels in aviation and maritime law. He returned home to Zaire and was named judicial and political counselor to Mobutu in 1968, and then became chief prosecutor of the Republic later that same year. Kengo entered politics in 1972, joining Mobutu's Movement for the Popular Revolution (MPR) and serving in various senior positions. He became a member of the MPR's central committee in 1980. After serving as Ambassador to Belgium from 1980-1982, Kengo was named First Commissioner of State (e.g., Prime Minister) in 1982. He served as Foreign Minister in 1986 and president of the audit court from 1986-87. He was again named prime minister in November 1988. In 1990, Kengo left government and formed his own party, the Union of Independent Democrats, when Mobutu permitted a multi-party system. Kengo participated in the Sovereign National Conference (CNS) and was elected prime minister by the post-CNS Transitional Parliament in June ¶1994. He remained in that post until the civil war began in late 1996, when Mobutu selected him to head a crisis cabinet focused on defeating Laurent Kabila. Kengo resigned his position in April 1997, one month before Laurent Kabila's army arrived in Kinshasa. Kengo went into exile in Europe, returning to the DRC in 2006. He was elected to the Senate as an independent candidate in January 2007. In May, he defeated former Kabila chief of staff Leonard She Okitundu for the Senate presidency, despite the pro-Kabila's AMP coalition having a majority in the Senate. End notes. MEECE