Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KINSHASA688
2007-06-20 13:07:00
SECRET
Embassy Kinshasa
Cable title:  

BRAZZAVILLE/CONGO: NTUMI - DEER HUNTER OR THE

Tags:  PREL PINR PHUM PGOV CF 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKI #0688/01 1711307
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 201307Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6359
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1155
S E C R E T KINSHASA 000688 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C RUTH HENDERSON, JANE GAFFNEY
INR/AA JOHN BERNTSEN, JENNIFER PEKKINEN
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS GREG D'ELIA, ROBERT KANEDA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2017
TAGS: PREL PINR PHUM PGOV CF
SUBJECT: BRAZZAVILLE/CONGO: NTUMI - DEER HUNTER OR THE
HUNTED?

REF: A. KINSHASA 000659


B. BERNTSEN-BARGERON E-MAIL

C. 13 JUNE 2007

D. BRAZZAVILLE 000093

Classified By: DCM MARK BIEDLINGMAIER, REASONS 1.4(B)(D)

S E C R E T KINSHASA 000688

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C RUTH HENDERSON, JANE GAFFNEY
INR/AA JOHN BERNTSEN, JENNIFER PEKKINEN
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS GREG D'ELIA, ROBERT KANEDA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2017
TAGS: PREL PINR PHUM PGOV CF
SUBJECT: BRAZZAVILLE/CONGO: NTUMI - DEER HUNTER OR THE
HUNTED?

REF: A. KINSHASA 000659


B. BERNTSEN-BARGERON E-MAIL

C. 13 JUNE 2007

D. BRAZZAVILLE 000093

Classified By: DCM MARK BIEDLINGMAIER, REASONS 1.4(B)(D)


1. (C) Following his June 8 "walk in the woods" in Kinkala
with CNR President Frederic Bintsamou (Pasteur Ntumi),in the
presence of BBC journalist James James, (reported reftel A),
DCM was contacted by CNR National Secretary Joseph Mbizi to
discuss his party's anticipated participation in the June 24
legislative elections. A meeting was held in Brazzaville on
June 14 with Mbizi and included the DCMs from the Embassy of
South Africa, Coen van Wyk and Apostolic Nunciature, Msgr.
Banatulaye Kuriwkose. Mbizi reported that, despite firm
commitments made by the Office of the Prime Minister during
protracted pre-concertation negotiations, no government
"matching funds" had been provided by the host-government to
Ntumi, or to the CNR, which would have virtually assured the
party's full involvement and active participation in the
nationwide election campaign. Mbizi added that, if these
funds were not received prior to the June 15 voter
registration deadline, Ntumi would have no option but to
withdraw all CNR candidates from the ballots. Post
verified on June 20 that no government funding had
been provided to the CNR and that Ntumi would now called
for a boycott of the Sunday electoral process.


2. (S) BBC journalist John James (please protect) reported
to DCM the substance of a conversation held with Presidential
Spokesman and Minister of Communication, Alain
Akouala-Antipault, on Sunday evening, June 10, shortly after
BBC had broadcast James' piece on the Kinkala meeting with
Ntumi. Akouala advised James that, unlike his BBC
predecessor, Francois Bikindou, who had been forced to leave
Brazzaville five years earlier after an interview arranged
with Ntumi, the Republic of Congo was now "a completely
democratic country and would certainly not interfere with his

activities or those of the working press." He then added, to
James' bewilderment, that President Sassou-Nguesso had been
approached on several occasions by various elements within
the military who offered to "get rid of" Ntumi, but that the
President did not believe this would be a prudent course of
action. Instead, Akouala continued, the President would now
welcome Ntumi's return to Brazzaville as "the government
would at least know where he was located."


3. (C) (Note: During the June 14 meeting with Mbizi noted
above, it was disclosed that Ntumi had planned to return to
Brazzaville prior to the June 24 election in an elaborate
40-car motorcade, surrounded by his supporters from the Pool,
and with a security detail of 45 ex-combattant soldiers.
Mbizi stated that this number had been agreed upon following
negotiations with the host government after an initial
proposal to bring 60 armed, ex-combattants to the city was
declined. It is now unlikely that Ntumi will make this move
to Brazzaville given his call to boycott the elections and
withdraw CNR candidates from the process due to non-receipt
campaign matching funds from the Ministry of the Interior.)


4. (S) On a related note, Ambassador Weisberg met privately
with Minister of Technical Education, Pierre-Michel Nguimbi
(please protect),who frequently shares insider views with
the embassy, for a tour d'horizon of the current political
situation. In response to Ambassador's summation of DCM's
recent contact with Ntumi, Nguimbi stated that Ntumi was
thought to be mentally unstable, a marginalized figure in the
newly-reopened Pool region, and above all, a festering
irritant to President Sassou-Nguesso and the PCT. Motioning
to the Ambassador with a double cross-slash to the throat,
Nguimbi said that Sassou-Nguesso was "fed-up" with the entire
Pasteur Ntumi issue, and that he (Ntumi) "was finished."
This conversation took place only days after Minister
Akouala's discussion with BBC correspondent James in which
similar sentiments were expressed. This discourse would lead
one to wonder, now that Ntumi is officially "out of the
woods" whether he is the hunter, or the hunted, in the eyes
of his countrymen and senior government leaders?


5. (C) The Nguimbi assessment of Ntumi's personality
differs from that observed by James and DCM during their
chance June 8 encounter. Ntumi welcomed his visitors to the
outdoor setting in a calm, yet somewhat shy manner, and then
warmed-up considerably after opening pleasantries, reference
to the Bikindou PNG affair, and Ntumi's wish to continue his
university studies in either psychology and sociology in the
United States. He was articulate and surprisingly well

informed of world events given his relative isolation in the
Pool region for over ten years, in particular the U.S. lead
role in anti-narcotics trafficking, economic globalization,
Chinese presence in the central Africa region, and the recent
Sarkozy-Royal election run-off in France. Perhaps playing to
his audience, Ntumi insisted that English-language study and
access to information technology resources would be "the key
to unlock the talents" of the young, future Pool generations,
now anxious to re-integrate into society following the tragic
civil war period. Unlike the dated photographs run
frequently in the national press, which often feature Ntumi
as an ill-groomed, bizarrely-clad deadbeat, he arrived to the
June 8 meeting dressed in a conservative suit, neat in
appearance and grooming, shined black loafers and sporting a
modest Seiko- or Timex-style chronometer/racing watch. The
CNR secretary, Joseph Mbizi, later confided to the DCM that
Ntumi was a voracious reader of history, politics and
international affairs, and despite its remote location,
Kinkala had an excellent internet link which allowed Ntumi to
"surfing the net" several hours each day for news and
developments in the fields of medicine, technology, and his
personal passions, music, culture and the arts.


6. (C) In other election news, candidates worth watching
this weekend include former Minister of Transportation, Andre
Okombi-Salissa; populist opposition Member of Parliament,
Nick Fila; and, recently demoted Special Advisor to the
President, Jean-Dominique Okemba (profiled reftel C).
Okombi-Salissa, currently Minister of Tourism and Environment
-- an insignificant portfolio given the heavy clout borne by
Minister of Forestry and Environment Henri Djombo in the
international community -- and Okemba, now wallowing on the
back benches as president of Congo's National Security
Commission, both aspire to higher office but have been
frustrated in this trek by Sassou-Nguesso's recent decision
to remove them from their respective power bases.
Okombi-Salissa has, to date, adamantly refused to dislodge
from his office at the Ministry of Transportation, and, known
to control both a well-armed private militia and regional
radio station, is considered by many to be "off limits" and a
formidable force "not to be reckoned with" lest one would
be prepared to suffer dire consequences. Urban legend
in Brazzaville notes that Salissa's militia conducted a
mafia-style "knee-capping" of a fellow Member of Parliament who
attempted to cut-in on lucrative commercial activities
controlled by Salissa while Minister of Transportation.


7. (SBU) The avuncular Fila, hero of last Fall's successful
passive resistance protest in the Poto-Poto suburb of
Brazzaville -- prompted by a host-government attempt to
forcefully expropriate land and slum residences for a
Chinese-backed redevelopment project to build medium-income
housing, led by the unpopular Minister of Construction
Alphonse Nsilou -- is openly criticizing the Minister of
Interior, Francois Ivobi, and others charged to establish a
representative National Electoral Commission, with
corruption, incompetence and voter registration fraud. There
has been, however, a highly-pervasive apathetic attitude
toward the election process by the average Congolese, who
find it more advantageous (financially and otherwise) to
accept generous gifts of cash, t-shirts, baseball caps, and
in one precinct, small refrigerators, from aggressive PCT
campaigners, than to seriously debate tough political issues
and the merits of a true opposition voice.


8. (U) Post once again renews its interest to secure prompt
Congressional approval for the IFES grant proposal, currently
in the AF/C clearance process, which would provide an
innovative opportunity to educate and empower voters, through
an open debate for all party candidates, to capture the
interest of Republic of Congo voters prior to the anticipated
July 22 run-off.
MEECE