Another Katangan academic takes over as presidential

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000177 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR SOCI KDEM CG SUBJECT: Another Katangan academic takes over as presidential security adviser Ref: 07 Kinshasa 926 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. President Kabila named fellow Kantangan Kaumba Lufunda as special counselor for security matters February 4. A criminologist by training, Kaumba was a bete noire of Congolese human RIGHTS groups during his tenure as rector of the University of Lubumbashi. It is too early to say if he will achieve the status of his predecessor, Samba Kaputo, one of the most influential figures of the Joseph Kabila presidency. End summary. ¶2. (U) President Kabila appointed Prince Kaumba Lufunda Samajiku, rector of the University of Lubumbashi, special counselor for security in a decree signed February 4 and announced over the state-owned broadcaster RTNC that evening. Kaumba will also head the National Security COUNCIL (CNS). The post has been vacant since September 2006. ¶3. (U) Kaumba, like his predecessor Guillaume Samba Kaputo, is a Katangan academic; he is a criminologist by training. Samba resigned in September 2006 following his election to the National Assembly, leaving the post vacant. However, Kabila did not appoint a successor, and Samba continued to exercise many of his previous functions informally until his sudden death in August 2007 (reftel). ¶4. (SBU) Begin biographical summary: Kaumba was born in Luabo, Katanga July 15, 1955. He is a member of the Ndembo tribe, closely allied with the Lunda people; both are settled in Congo and Angola. His given name, Prince, is not indicative of any royal status. Kaumba graduated in criminology, then earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. As a professor of criminology, he has authored many publications, participated in numerous conferences and roundtables and led seminars on security sector reform. Kaumba entered public life late in the Mobutu era as counselor to his older brother, Maximilien Sampasa Kawete Milombe, director general of the paramilitary Civil Guard. He also served as counselor at the National Police and a judge of the Military Court. Following Mobutu's overthrow in 1997, Laurent Kabila named Kaumba deputy chief of staff to the inspector general of the police, where he acted as chief press officer. In 1998, Kabila named him director of the police's Central Criminology Service. The presidential security force (GSSP) arrested Kaumba in April 1999 after the Kinshasa HUMAN RIGHTS group La Voix des sans Voix (VSV) invited him to a press conference. A military court ordered him released a month later for lack of evidence. Kaumba also served as a counselor on the technical secretariat of the National Security Council. In 2002, Kaumba was named rector of the University of Lubumbashi, where he was professor of criminology at the College of Humanities. Human RIGHTS organizations cited him for numerous actions against faculty, students and HUMAN RIGHTS investigators during his tenure as rector. Joseph Kabila appointed Kaumba special counselor for security matters February 4, 2008. In that position, he also chairs the National Security Council. End biographical summary. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: Samba was one of the most influential figures of the Joseph Kabila era, and had access to the president at all times. Whether Kaumba, with his history as a security official under both Kabilas, will be able to replicate this status remains at this point an open question. End comment. GARVELINK