GOMA NOTES 04/21/08 - GOMA PROCESS: CNDP HARDLINERS ATTEMPT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000386 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS KPKO CG UN EUN SUBJECT: GOMA NOTES 04/21/08 - GOMA PROCESS: CNDP HARDLINERS ATTEMPT TO LINK GOMA AND NAIROBI ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The CNDP clung to hardline arguments April 18-19 linking the proposed calendar of activities for the Amani Program Joint Technical Committee on Peace and Security (CTMPS) to progress against the FDLR, but a weekend of pushing by National Coordinator Apollinaire Malumalu and the International Facilitation led to a compromise. This was derailed at the April 21 plenary by a surprise FRF move to insert language from the Acte d'Engagement. The CNDP position appears to reflect continuing fears of Tutsi massacres at the hands of FDLR if disengagement begins too soon. End summary. Saturday scramble -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The April 19 plenary session of the Goma process Joint Technical Committee on Peace and Security (CTMPS) continued the business of adopting its proposed calendar of activities, with amendments, for a second day. The working group's suggestions on a date for a public awareness campaign drew no objections, but the draft included a qualification, advocated by CNDP, that subordinated disengagement to verifiable progress in the Nairobi process. ¶3. (SBU) Knowing that this language was unacceptable to the GDRC, both Amani National Coordinator Apollinaire Malumalu and the International Facilitation had worked April 18 to find common ground with CNDP. By the morning of April 19 it was clear CNDP representatives had retreated to Nkunda's headquarters in Kiroliwe and received instructions to raise the linkage issue at the plenary at the first opportunity, and not let it go. The session foundered quickly. Co-chairman Vice Admiral Didier Etumba adjourned the meeting and asked the Facilitation to seek a way forward with CNDP. That meeting was scheduled for Monday April 21. ¶4. (SBU) Nkunda extended an invitation to EUSEC Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Luc Covolan, a skillful negotiator representing the EU, to spend Saturday night at Kirolirwe. After many hours, Colovan persuaded Nkunda and his staff to drop their linkage position. A/S Frazer's Senior Adviser Tim Shortley was also in telephone contact with Nkunda. By the end of the weekend it appeared CNDP had agreed to return to Goma with a revised position that did not include formal linkage between progress under Nairobi and Goma. Monday mess -------------- ¶5. (SBU) At the April 21 plenary, Etumba invited Colovan to explain the outcome of his negotiations with Nkunda. Indicating that a compromise had been reached that did not include "conditionality," Colovan gave CNDP the floor. ¶6. (SBU) CNDP delegates first recited some ritual points: CNDP assures the Committee that it is committed to peace; CNDP asks the Committee to remember that the group is emerging from a war and still has enemies; CNDP is committed to the Goma process; CNDP acknowledges the Facilitation's help during the week past. ¶7. (SBU) CNDP then tabled new language, which replaced the previous, objectionable mention of progress against the FDLR before disengagement would begin. They proposed that the CTMPS should require information on the progress of Nairobi implementation and continuously evaluate and verify the status of the DDRRR of foreign armed groups. ¶8. (SBU) At this point the FRF proposed adding a third bullet, essentially repeating language from the Acte d'Engagement, thus adding something already agreed to. The meeting then deteriorated. Etumba accused the FRF of insulting the elected government and the FARDC, and of intimating that the FARDC were in collaboration with the FDLR. South Kivu Mai-Mai representatives joined in, denouncing a CNDP-FRF plot to re-introduce Nairobi-linked conditionality in a disguised form. Some proposed going back to South Kivu immediately. ¶9. (SBU) The MONUC co-chair asked for a five-minute break. CNDP participants were visibly amused. For the balance of the day, Committee members negotiated among themselves without benefit of moderation by Etumba or the Facilitation. Comment -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Malumalu and others say that there are divisions in CNDP, and that the military members, who espouse a hard line, are currently dominant. CNDP had been giving us this harder line in private for several weeks. They appear to have wanted to go public KINSHASA 00000386 002 OF 002 and did not mind stopping the CTMPS dead in its tracks. CNDP and other sources report that CNDP believes the Tutsi population is under imminent threat, that disengagement will expose Tutsis to risks of massacres by PARECO and FDLR, and that CNDP ought not to participate in substantive implementation of, or even planning for, Goma until Nairobi is on the road to implementation, preferably with CNDP operational help. End comment.