UN TEAM FINDS EVIDENCE OF CNDP FINANCIAL SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000752 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV RW SUBJECT: UN TEAM FINDS EVIDENCE OF CNDP FINANCIAL SUPPORT ROUTED THROUGH RWANDAN BANK REF: KIGALI 615 Classified By: CDA Cheryl Sim for Reason 1.4 (b) (d) ¶1. (C) DATT and Pol/Econ Chief spoke on October 22 with Jason Stearns, member of the UN Group of Experts for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, regarding the Group's investigation of financial assistance to renegade General Nkunda's CNDP. Stearns said his group had documentary evidence of overseas transfers from Nkunda supporters to the Gisenyi branch of BCR. (Note: BCR is a local bank whose majority shareholder is the British investment group ACTIS, with the Rwandan government retaining a twenty percent interest). Stearns said the CNDP had established a well-organized web of financial contributors from outside Rwanda, and that the UN group suspected regular payments were being made to a BCR account bearing the name of Nkunda's wife. So far, he said, the UN Group had traced one monetary transfer from an opposition Congolese politician (unnamed) living in Belgium to this account. Cash withdrawals occurred regularly from this account, but as yet the UN group had no idea where the money went after these withdrawals, he commented. Stearns said the UN Group would approach the Rwandan central bank for assistance in tracking suspected transactions. ¶2. (C) Stearns said so far the UN Group had not/not found evidence of financial transfers from inside Rwanda to this account, or found other evidence of financial support from either the Rwandan government or from individuals in Rwanda to Nkunda. He commented that other avenues of support to the CNDP were also being investigated, including reports of trucks bearing Rwandan license plates being used to transport support to the CNDP through Ugandan border posts with the DRC. DATT and Pol/Econ Chief told Stearns of the recent discovery of a shipment of military uniforms passing through the Kigali airport (the uniforms, destined for the Congo, were discovered when a forklift accidentally tore open the cargo pallet. See reftel). Stearns said the UN Group had obtained extensive phone records in the DRC showing calls to and from a variety of Rwandan numbers to phone numbers linked to Nkunda. This information would also be shared with the Rwandans, he said. ¶3. (C) Comment. Reports of financial contributions to the CNDP by private individuals come as no great surprise. Mission recently heard reports of informal collections of funds for Nkunda among the Bagogwe, a Tutsi clan that straddles the Rwanda - DRC border, and which claims him as a member. Reports of CNDP recruiting in the refugee camps also continue, as do reports of demobilized Rwandan soldiers "re-mobilizing" themselves by voluntarily crossing to join Nkunda. We will seek Rwandan government reaction to the UN Group of Experts assertions. End comment. SIM