GOMA NOTES 03/18-20/08 - WAITING FOR MALUMALU

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000283 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV MOPS KPKO CG UN SUBJECT: GOMA NOTES 03/18-20/08 - WAITING FOR MALUMALU ¶1. (SBU) Summary: National Coordinator Abbe Malumalu is expected back in Goma March 22 prior to the hoped-for inaugural meeting the following week of the Joint Commission (JC) to implement the Goma accords. The list of pending JC business continues to grow in anticipation of a decree establishing its structure and membership. FARDC tanks are en route from Beni, apparently to Bukavu, in technical violation of the accords. The JC will probably require $50-70,000 in monthly operational financing, including building rental, honorariums and other costs. End summary. Pending business -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Amani Program National Coordinator Abbe Muholongu Malumalu is expected to return to Goma March 22 after a short visit to Belgium to receive an honorary doctorate in Liege. Before leaving, he told international facilitators he planned to convene the initial meeting of the Joint Technical Commission on Peace and Security (JC) called for by the Goma Acte d'Engagement Tuesday March 25. ¶3. (SBU) Pending JC business continues to multiply. MONUC's North Kivu Brigade has a list of deployments for discussion. FARDC is seeking to redeploy, in technical violation of the Goma agreements. CNDP insists its "help" in going after FDLR is both necessary and desirable. Mayimayi groups, PARECO and CNDP regularly accuse one another of cease-fire or other violations of the Acte. FARDC tanks -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Repots that FARDC had moved tanks from Beni to Goma in the pre-dawn hours of March 18 turned out to be a bit jumbled. In fact, the tanks did leave Beni -- despite a formal request from MONUC not to do so -- but as of the evening of March 20 they were at Kanyabayonga. These are the newly-purchased tanks that were supposed to be part of the independence day celebrations in Kisangani last year, but didn't make it in time. They are supposedly en route to Bukavu to join the 2nd Integrated Brigade, which has been deployed there from Beni. MONUC's North Kivu Brigade sees tanks as useless in any conceivable operations against FDLR or other armed groups. ¶5. (SBU) MONUC unofficially considers this movement of armor a potential cease-fire violation. It was not vetted or coordinated with MONUC, as would normally be the case with operations under the Nairobi declaration. MONUC is trying to get them to stay in Kanyabayonga and not transit through the sensitive Virunga Park-Rutshuru sector. Earlier inquiries were rebuffed as none of its business. We understand Acting Force Commander General Bikram Singh has informed FARDC that MONUC is suspending all operational cooperation until FARDC resumes a decent level of coordination. Finances -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The JC will probably require something on the order of $50,000-$70,000 per month to fund operations. This estimate does not include the cost of the national coordination or of other pieces of the program. National Coordinator Abbe Muholongu Malumalu has signed a lease on a building to house its Goma offices; it is unlikely to cost less than $4,000 per month. The program will require something similar in Bukavu. ¶7. (SBU) Abbe Malumalu has suggested that senior-level JC members and various role-players (permanent secretary, members of the technical harmonization bureau, &c.) would be paid an honorarium of $500 per month. Since there are something like 36 slots in this category, this would come to around $18,000 per month. He will, as always, want to have his close-support staff at hand, and there will probably be a number of other inner-circle expenses in addition to JC funding costs. Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) All this presumes that the decree establishing a structure for the Commission and formalizing nominations for key slots under those structures will be issued by the weekend at the latest and reflect the terms negotiated by Abbe Malumalu with the various armed groups. Acting MONUC political affairs director Christian Manahl told us March 20 in Kinshasa that President Kabila had signed the decree, and it had been transmitted to the prime minister's office for similar approval, but had no information regarding its content. End comment.