JUNE 19 MEETING OF STEERING GROUPS FOR AMANI AGREEMENTS,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000553 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS KPKO CG RW UN SUBJECT: JUNE 19 MEETING OF STEERING GROUPS FOR AMANI AGREEMENTS, NAIRTOBI COMMUNIQUE ¶1. A joint meeting of the steering committees for the "Amani Process" (or Amani Program),and the "Nairobi Process' met in Kinshasa June 19 at the Ministry of the Interior. The meeting was chaired by Interior Minster Denis Kalume. Presenting an update on the Amani Process was its coordinator, Father Apolinnaire Malumalu; the "Nairobi Process" spokesperson was Roving Ambassador Seraphin Ngwej, an advisor to President Kabila. Other prominent attendees included the Ministers of Social Affairs (Jean-Claude Muyambo) and of Planning (Olivier Kamitatu). The senior GDRC military official was Vice-Admiral Didier Etumba, who serves on the Amani Process' Mixed Technical Commission on Peace and Security. Foreign attendees were from the UN (SRSG Alan Doss),the EU (represented by the ambassador of France),the EU Commission (represented by its delegate to the DRC),Tanzania (ambassador) and the United States (DCM). An unofficial translation of the communique describing the meeting, signed June 19 but not distributed until June 23, is contained at para 5. ¶2. The long (almost three hours) meeting was largely uneventful, with each spokesman going over developments pertaining to his respective process. The ministers of humanitarian affairs and of planning did not speak. The most salient facts gleaned from the presentations by the spokespersons for each process are: (1) the Amani process appears to have run out of steam due to a lack of resources and waning interest by key parties in moving forward towards demobilization and other goals; and (2) the GDRC sees little enthusiasm at the local level to receive and resettle former FDLR forces. Emphasis, Ngwej stated, should be given to pushing first for FDLR repatriation to Rwanda while holding out resettlement as a limited option for only a few individuals. Ngwej handed out a proposed budget for the repatriation/relocation plan (see para 4). ¶3. A potentially controversial scene unfolded when, at SRSG's Doss' request, retired Canadian lieutenant general Marc Caron outlined a four-phase MONUC plan for a possible integration ("brassage") of forces loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda. Vice-admiral Etumba responded vigorously that such plans were not welcome because it was the Ministry of Defense, and only the Ministry of Defense, that should deal with such matters. Kalume and Malumalu politely thanked both Caron and Etumba but did not make substantive comments. ¶4. A number of documents handed out at the meeting were scanned and sent to the Department via e-mail on June 19. These include: (1) the "brassage" plans outlined by General Caron; (2) the proposed operational budget for the FDLR's repatriation/relocation; and (3) the minutes of the Amani Process Steering Committee's previous meeting on March 25, 2008. ¶5. Following is embassy's unofficial translation of the communique of the June 19 meeting. COMMUNIQUE Unofficial translation The Steering Committees of the Amani Program and for the implementation of the Nairobi Communique met in joint session in Kinshasa on June 19 under the chairmanship of Minister of State for the Interior, Decentralization and Security, and in the presence of members of the Government or their representatives, as well as members of the International Facilitation group for these two committees, to wit the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States. The Amani Program Monitoring Committee delegation presented a report on the status of the work of the different Commissions, particularly the Mixed Technical Commission of the Commission on Peace and Security (CMPTS),specifically the adoption of internal rules, the calendar of activities, the public awareness campaign agreed to by the signatories to the Goma Accords, the setting up of sub-committees and technical structures, as well as the imminent launching of the work of provincial coordination teams. The Monitoring Committee also outlined certain problems of diverse origin and announced the formulation of an Operational Plan for the entire program. The delegation for the Nairobi Communique presented the Operational Plan formulated after the pertinent resolutions of the Kinsangani Conference. The Plan includes continued public awareness campaigns, bringing together elements of armed foreign groups, to begin with the RUD/Urunana faction, with a view to their repatriation or their temporary relocation. The presentation ended with an appeal for national and international support for this process, which is entering into its operational phase. KINSHASA 00000553 002 OF 002 Based on the above-mentioned evaluations, the following was revealed: -- There is a lack of respect by several members of the Mixed Technical Committee of the texts they themselves drafted and signed; -- Economic plunder continues; -- There is a flow of IDP's following repeated confrontations; -- There are new recruitments into the ranks of armed groups; -- There are unending rapes and other human rights violations in localities occupied by certain parties that are signatories to the "Actes d'engagement" (Goma agreements); -- ID documents of local populations are confiscated and destroyed; Based on the preceding, the Steering Committees have decided that: -- The Steering Committees request the formulation of a scheme of integration covering both processes, based on concepts and work that already exist, with clearly established phases and tasks that are well defined for the different parties, both national and international; -- The Committees strongly condemn the continuation of confrontations between armed groups and the use of violence of by these groups against civilian populations; they (the Committees) put on notice armed groups that do not respect their commitments and international human law; -- The Committees denounce the plundering of natural resources and the illegal taxation and extortion in return for the movement of persons, including border controls by an armed group; -- The Committees denounce impunity and urge Congolese authorities to commit to strengthening, with support from the international community, law enforcement actions in the east of the country in order to combat crime and illegal practices; -- The Committees remind (armed groups) of the formal prohibition of any new recruitment into the ranks of armed groups and encourage the Mixed Technical Commission for Peace and Security, as well as Monitoring Committee for the Nairobi Communique to rigorously carry out their duties with a view to the improvement of the situation on the ground; -- The Committees agree, via their members, to mobilize resources to assure the financing of projects and to respond effectively to the humanitarian crisis in the east of the country. Signed in Kinshasa, 19 June 2008 Denis KALUME NUMBI President of the Steering Committee of the Amani Program End embassy translation of Communique GARVELINK