MONUC's Kivus Conference Report -- third day of

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000040 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM MOPS PREL CG SUBJECT: MONUC's Kivus Conference Report -- third day of plenary is devoted to North Kivu delegates Note: The following report was prepared by MONUC (pls protect) and was shared with U.S. team in Goma. End note. ¶1. (SBU) Under the moderation of Azarias Ruberwa, today's plenary started with speeches by governors Didier Manara (Maniema province) and Medard Autsai (Orientale province). Both presented their respective provinces, which they portrayed as places where ethnic groups coexisted peacefully, as examples to be followed by the Kivus. The governors also pointed out the important economic benefits peace in the Kivus would bring. Governor Autsai said that the continuation of conflict in the Kivus would be an insult to all those who had perished during the war and called upon the delegates to use the historic chance of the Conference to find a path towards peace. ¶2. (SBU) The rest of the day's proceedings were almost entirely devoted to presentations from all the communities across North Kivu (the same is planned for South Kivu's communities tomorrow). Azarias Ruberwa choose not to impose time limits on any of the presentations, seeming to judge instead that the opportunity to address the Conference itself represented a valued, and cathartic experience for the communities - through their designated representatives. Today's proceedings therefore took on the air of an impromptu "truth commission". According to feedback from a variety of observers, Ruberwa's moderation seems to have been appreciated by the inter-ethnic audience as largely fair and tolerant. ¶3. (SBU) A major recurring issue, brought up by the quasi-totality of community representatives, was that of their under-representation in government bodies -- both at national and provincial levels, in the civil service as well as in the security sector (army, police, and intelligence services). Though Conference organizers had from the start been careful to assert that DRC government institutions, now legitimated via elections, were not to be "negotiated," nearly all community representatives nevertheless demanded more seats in the full gamut of government institutions. These demands did not come solely from groups typically considered as demographically small -- some of whom appear to have credible claims of under, or non-representation (the Tembo and Watalinga, a Nande sub-group, can be cited as examples here) -- but also from demographically larger groups (the Hutu are a case in point). In addition, some community representatives (Hutu, Mbuba) decried the "Nande domination" of North Kivu (and called for the province to be split in two),which the Nande representative vehemently rejected. ¶4. (SBU) Predictably, land rights and rights to natural resources promise to be contentious issues as well and tensions were already apparent today. For example, the Hunde representative presented what many considered an extremist position that only they should be entitled to live in the lands that they control. Another case in point was the discord expressed by the general audience when the Tutsi representative demanded that their refugees and uprooted customary leaders be allowed to return to Walikale, Rutshuru, Masisi, and Lubero inter alia, by the same token making the contentious implication that they considered (parts of) these areas to be "historic territories" for Tutsi. ¶5. (SBU) Another characteristic shared by nearly all speeches was their denunciation of the discriminations and rights violations their respective communities face, faulting in part the State (and its failure to establish its authority),in part the international community (and its failure to provide an adequate response),in part Rwanda (for failing to settle its conflicts on its own national soil),and in part each other. As an offshoot of the last point, there were several calls for a process of inter-community dialogue and reconciliation throughout the day. ¶6. (SBU) Safi Adili, President of the Tutsi Community of North Kivu and member of the Conference's "Comite des Sages" (Wise Men's Group),had at first intended to speak on behalf of the Tutsi. However, Conference Bureau President Malu Malu protested, explaining this represented a conflict of interest. Adili eventually agreed, and his prepared statement was read by another Tutsi community member instead. ¶7. (SBU) The statement overall proved to be fairly controversial, both in the way it depicted the causes of Tutsi grievances and insecurity, and their potential remedies. One reason cited to justify why the Tutsi have "taken up arms in self-defense" included the "plan" on the part of various regimes in Kinshasa to "exterminate the Tutsi community". References to several waves of deportation of Tutsis and of an alleged 1967 alliance between Habyarimana and Mobutu to "destabilize" the Tutsi community were KINSHASA 00000040 002 OF 002 also made; the 1994 influx of up 2 million Rwandan refugees was characterized as "another ploy to exterminate the Tutsi". Some of the recommendations aired included demands that the GDRC adopt and implement a specific national policy to ensure the protection of Tutsi and their free circulation throughout the country, for instance. ¶8. (SBU) Several other speakers delivered speeches at the end of the day: the representative from the "Barza inter-communautaire" (a federation of all North Kivu communities),Seraphin Ngwej, President Kabila's roving ambassador, and Tim Shortley, Senior Advisor for Conflict Resolution to US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer. ¶9. (SBU) In another emblematic gesture echoing that of Vital Kamerhe in yesterday's plenary, at the end of the afternoon, Malu Malu asked the CNDP delegation to come to the front of the hall and present themselves so that everyone would know that they too had been included and were participating in the Conference. The entire delegation did so, to polite applause from the hall. The CNDP delegates were reportedly encouraged by this experience. ¶10. (SBU) Although the atmosphere of the conference remained calm, the initial program was hardly respected and almost all of the speakers did not follow their time limits. This results in further delays in the Conference schedule, relegating the South Kivu presentations to tomorrow, and those of the armed groups probably to Sunday. ¶11. (SBU) In other meetings held on the margins of the Conference, the External Facilitation, accompanied by MONUC, met for a second time -- at their request -- with representatives of PARECO and three other North Kivu Mayi Mayi factions (Kifuafua, Kasindiens, and Mongols). While these delegations confirmed that, when their turn comes, they intended to make declarations to the Plenary that they are "now determined to make peace," much of their discussion with the Facilitation revolved around their security concerns at the conference, their doubts about the fidelity of the governments of Rwanda and of the DRC, their concern that the FDLR issue should be resolved definitively but not through force, and their continuing deep mistrust of the Tutsi community. ¶12. (SBU) In an evening meeting with Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi, the Minister confirmed that in response to the Rwandan Government's complaint that it had not been properly invited, via Note Verbale, to the Conference, he had spoken with a member of the President's office to indicate that an invitation in the proper form was now being issued and that he hoped that they would seize the opportunity to attend. Garvelink Page 1 of 4