DEMARCHE TO CONGOLESE GOVERNMENT ON

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000678 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PBTS PTER MOPS RW UG CG SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO CONGOLESE GOVERNMENT ON SECURITY IN THE EAST REF: (A) STATE 85414; (B) KINSHASA 630 ¶1. (U) Per instructions ref (A),Ambassador met August 14 with National Security Advisor Lufunda Kaumba and Deputy Interior Minister Joseph Mpango Okundo. Interior Minister Denis Kalume dropped out at the last minute and sent his deputy (Mpango Okundo) instead. Also present were DCM Brock and Goma TDY poloff Rankin. (Note: Kalume and Kaumba were both invited because the GDRC's political effort to combat/contain insurgent groups in the east has been effectively divided between the Amani process and the Nairobi process. Kalume, as chair of the Amani Process Steering Committee, is the appropriate contact for matters relating to the CNDP, while Presidential advisors Kaumba and Ambassador Seraphin Ngwej, who is currently on vacation, are the appropriate contacts for all matters regarding the FDLR. End note.) ¶2. (SBU) Ambassador went over talking points as contained ref (A). Kaumba, who spoke more often, more forcefully, and with greater nuance (but without anger) than Mpango Okundo, made the case that collaboration between the GDRC and the FDLR was at best illogical as the presence of the FDLR in Congolese territory had resulted in great prejudice and suffering to the populations in the east of the DRC. He acknowledged that some Congolese officials at lower levels may be "in collusion" with the FDLR but denied emphatically that this was the case with individuals at the policy level. Ambassador and DCM referred to the persistence of perceptions that GDRC is not really interested in removing the FDLR from areas where it operates with impunity and called on GDRC to step up its efforts to demobilize more FDLR troops. Ambassador and DCM also mentioned that the view in Kigali regarding the July 31 ceremony in Kisiki in which 65 FDLR/RUD troops had laid down there weapons was derisory. ¶3. (SBU) Unperturbed, Kaumba attributed the lack of progress with the FDLR to inadequate funding from the international community, which would have to foot the bill for setting up a processing camp with minimal living standards so that the FDLR would have an incentive to leave the bush. He also noted that he is planning a scouting trip of a few FDLR leaders to Rwanda so they could see for themselves that the conditions in that country are ripe for their return. When they reported back to the rank and file still in the bush, he said, a great number of FDLR soldiers would rush to demobilize and return to Rwanda. Kaumba also acknowledged that many FDLR would not choose to repatriate to Rwanda; they would not come out of the bush until offered a safe place to resettle. He called for the holding of a conference with third nations (several European countries, plus Zambia, Tanzania and Morocco were mentioned) in attendance to offer resettlement slots for FDLR troops unwilling to repatriate. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: Very little was achieved as a result of this demarche other than, perhaps, to convey that we are not fully convinced that the GDRC is as innocent as it says it is in regard to "collusion" with the FDLR. Kaumba's point about the lack of funding to entice FDLR soldiers from leaving the bush, where they can at least make a living through artisanal mining or other informal economic activities, is hard to challenge. End comment. GARVELINK