DRC RESPONSE TO MSF REPORT ON ANGOLAN ABUSE

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001428 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PREF AO CG SUBJECT: DRC RESPONSE TO MSF REPORT ON ANGOLAN ABUSE OF CONGOLESE EXPELEES IS LESS THAN ENERGETIC REF: LUANDA 1221 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On December 5, Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) published a report describing atrocities being committed by Angolan forces against Congolese citizens in Angola. PolOff discussed the report with MSF reps on December 6 to discuss the report. On December 12, a Caritas representative (Caritas is operating reception centers for Congolese expellees) also confirmed the allegations in the report. On December 13, PolOff and RefCoord met with the Congolese Social and Humanitarian Affairs Minister to discuss the GDRC response. The minister complained about his ministry's lack of capacity to relieve the plight of Congolese in the border area and said the problem was basically economic. The GDRC does not appear to be overly concerned regarding the reports of abuses of its citizens in Angola. End Summary. ¶2. (U) On December 6, PolOff met with MSF representatives to discuss a report that NGO published December 5 in which 100 witnesses interviewed on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) side of the border described brutalities by Angolan forces against Congolese. Among the abuses reported were illegal detention, mass rape, forced labor, forced conscription, and torture. MSF also reported that 44,000 Congolese have been forcibly expelled from Lunda Norte province since January 2007. On December 14, at a humanitarian cluster meeting, MSF further reported that the expulsions were continuing with an estimate of 1,860 expulsions in October 2007 and more than 1,000 in November. ¶3. (U) On December 12, PolOff met with a Caritas representative who confirmed that abuses are being committed by Angolan forces. The representative said Caritas is operating 7 different sites along DRC-Angola border, specifically near Kamako and Luiza, to receive Congolese expelled from Angola. They estimate that between the 7 sites approximately 5,000 expellees are being assisted. ¶4. (U) On December 13, PolOff and RefCoord met with Social and Humanitarian Affairs Minister Jean-Claude Muyambo to discuss the GDRC's response to the MSF report. Muyambo acknowledged the report and said he was monitoring the situation and that Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga was aware of the situation. He blamed the presence of Congolese citizens in Angola on poor economic conditions in the DRC. He said the diamond mines provided the incentive for the Congolese to cross over the border to look for work. ¶5. (U) Muyambo also complained that at the present time his ministry does not have the capacity to receive the expellees back into the DRC. At best, he said, the government could undertake a public awareness campaign to urge Congolese not to cross the border into Angola. He said that in 2008 his ministry is planning on forming a team to visit Congolese refugees in several surrounding countries. Muyambo did not mention, however, any plans to visit Congolese living in Angola. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: The GDRC does not appear to be too exercised about the reports of Congolese citizens subject to abuse in Angola. The Humanitarian Affairs Minister feigned helplessness in his responses to inquiries from PolOff and RefCoord. His view that the problem is essentially economic evinces ignorance at best or indifference at worst. Without a concerted effort by the GDRC to address the plight of its fellow citizens such abuses are not likely to stop. End Comment GARVELINK