GOMA NOTES - NAIROBI PROCESS: 18TH MEETING OF THE JMG TASK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000374 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF MOPS PHUM KPKO CG RW UN SUBJECT: GOMA NOTES - NAIROBI PROCESS: 18TH MEETING OF THE JMG TASK FORCE, APRIL 18, 2008 REF: Kinshasa 349 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Rwanda told the Joint Monitoring Group Task Force (JMG-TF) during its April 18 session in Goma that it should be more active and consider meeting in the field as a matter of course, but drew no support. UN agencies led presentations on reducing negative impact on IDPs and returning soldiers, and updating DDRRR operations. Rwanda praised the DDRRR portion and the group arranged for a briefing on DDRRR results every other week. Rwanda complained about the TF secretariat and proposed it be reconstituted to afford more accurate reporting of Rwandan positions and opinions. The members quashed any return to the time-consuming reporting characteristic of the TF's earlier meetings. End summary. ¶2. (U) Rwanda's delegation, and nearly all present at the April 18 Joint Monitoring Group Task Force meeting, presented condolences to the Congolese government on the April 15 plane crash. The Congolese delegation acknowledged these expressions. ¶3. (SBU) In reply to Rwanda's renewed criticism of a Task Force that confines itself to a conference room, the Congolese delegation answered that only local commanders know when it is safe to visit rural areas. Rwanda should not confuse security conditions in their own country with what is happening in the Congo, they said, and when the head of the Congolese delegation, Colonel Augustin Mamba, returns on April 25 he will consider the areas that Rwanda wants to visit. UN on IDPs -------------- ¶4. (U) OCHA representatives had alarming statistics on the number of long-term IDPs in the Kivu provinces, up to 840,000 today. Humanitarian operations in North Kivu remain feasible, but space for such activities in South Kivu has run out. In the event of a military operation against the FDLR, more IDPs and still less humanitarian access are inevitable. This underscores the need to provide FARDC soldiers with training in human rights and civilian protection. Presenters agreed that experience in FARDC operations carried out with MONUC shows that the larger the attacking force, the greater the negative impact on civilians. A system of observation is needed to curtail human rights violations, and a system of prior warnings to civilians in the path of military forces to reduce new displacement. ¶5. (SBU) Rwanda's delegate wondered why displacement went up when it was supposed to go down, and specifically why local authorities do not seem aware of the impact of the Nairobi and Goma processes. OCHA said that part of the answer is the discovery of previously unknown IDPs, more visible since the population became more mobile. ¶6. (SBU) Despite the success of the cease-fire, civilians are skittish about going home, fearing reprisals by armed groups and recognizing that banditry is on the rise. Often people who want to go home will leave one family member in place to be certain nobody usurps their existing toehold while they scout a new location. In South Kivu, families are remarkably static, operating on their own timetable rather than that of the military or armed groups. A UNHCR representative offered a kind of mea culpa, acknowledging that his agency has not kept up timely communications with authorities who might help families to more safely judge the climate for staying or moving. ¶7. (SBU) The Congolese delegate took Rwanda to task for questions that seemed to hint at operational carelessness on the part of FARDC. He noted that the FARDC operates with MONUC and MONUC-trained soldiers, and nothing in the process is left to chance. For instance, traditional chiefs were present at the Kivus conference in January; everyone should take seriously the business of explaining the cease-fire and its implications, and everyone including Rwanda should recognize that there is no magic wand to make the process go more quickly. DDRRR goal: change attitudes -------------- ¶7. (SBU) In the absence of DDRRR principals, MONUC-Goma's acting public information officer (PIO) told members that the goal of DDRRR today is to locate and isolate its targets, talk about the comparative advantages of life in the two countries, explain Amani programs, and develop targets' confidence in MONUC and enthusiasm for the demobilization process at the Mutubo transit center. The process requires support from provincial authorities, MONUC and the KINSHASA 00000374 002 OF 002 World Bank's MDRP program at both the political and strategic levels. It uses a variety of media at the operational level, including Radio Okapi, the fledgling Radio DDRRR, sports events, professional theatrical troops, and educational programs in schools. ¶8. (SBU) According to the PIO, it is at this operational level that Information Operations, also called Psychological Operations, are critically important. The number of FDLR returnees is increasing but DDRRR administrators are not sure why: new political developments, public awareness, or both. Experience shows that public awareness campaigns and PsyOps are most successful when personal relationships are in play, most obviously including the location of family and friends in relation to the armed fighter's present position. Praise and complaints -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Impressed by the presentation, the Rwandan delegation suggested that all TF members would benefit from frequent updates on the successes of DDRRR. The presenters and members agreed to an every-second-week schedule beginning May 2. ¶10. (SBU) Toward the end of the meeting Rwanda complained that the TF secretariat systematically under-reported members' reactions to its positions. The other members discounted the complaint and firmly stated they would not return to the time-consuming process of debating and re-wording the minutes as was practiced in the TF's early months. ¶11. (SBU) Because the JMG envoys were meeting in New York the same day, the members did not discuss pending correspondence and requests. ¶12. (SBU) Members will meet briefly on April 25 to sign minutes, then move to a DDRRR location in Goma for a special presentation. Comment -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Comment. An important theme resonated through both of the day's presentations, namely anxiety over when and how the GDRC and its partners will move to rid the country of armed groups. An aloof Rwandan delegation was impatient and skeptical. Interestingly, the same anxiety underlies CNDP's refusal to adopt the calendar for the Goma process Joint Technical Commission on Peace and Security, demanding guarantees of protection against FDLR for local populations before it will move toward disengagement and brassage (septel). New and credible assurances of military competence, consistent humanitarian intervention, and skillful DDRRR, including PsyOps assistance, would help to dispel the anxiety. End comment.