Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BRAZZAVILLE331
2009-11-18 09:03:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Brazzaville
Cable title:  

BRAZZAVILLE IN BRIEF: NOVEMBER 18, 2009

Tags:  PGOV PREL CF EFIN EAGR EINV ETRD 
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RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0072
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RUEHMA/AMEMBASSY MALABO 0016
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RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0059
RHMFISS/AFRICOM
RUEHBZ/AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE 2029
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRAZZAVILLE 000331 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL CF EFIN EAGR EINV ETRD
SUBJECT: BRAZZAVILLE IN BRIEF: NOVEMBER 18, 2009
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRAZZAVILLE 000331

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL CF EFIN EAGR EINV ETRD
SUBJECT: BRAZZAVILLE IN BRIEF: NOVEMBER 18, 2009

1.(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED
2.(u) This is the latest in our occasional series of cables
conveying developments in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville).
Today's edition addresses the IMF/World Bank in the last stages
of HIPC completion point discussions, a successful
privatization, the state of the opposition, and the death of
longtime political leader Bernard Kolelas.
IMF/WORLD BANK MISSION POSTPONED
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3.(SBU) A joint mission of the IMF/World Bank had been expected
to visit Brazzaville this week to put the final touches on
Congo(B)'s HIPC "completion point" eligibility, but according to
the local IMF representative, the mission has been postponed,
probably until early next month. The sticking point, roughly
summarized, is whether Congo's crude oil marketing system meets
international standards with respect to commercial practices,
governance, and transparency. This will push Bank/Fund board
consideration of "completion point" to January, at the earliest.
MINOCO PRIVATIZATION COMPLETED -SEABOARD OWNS IT
-------------- --------------
--------------
4.(U) On November 13, 2009, the Congolese flour mill MINOCO,
located at the port of Pointe-Noire, completed the privatization
process begun in 2000 with the final payment of 363,780,000 CFA
(roughly USD895,000) to the GROC, representing the last annual
installment of the purchase price of around USD 8 million (six
billion CFA). MINOCO is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Kansas-based Seaboard Corporation, whose president, Steve
Bresky, attended the final payment ceremony along with the
Ambassador and Rodolphe Adada, Minister of State for Industrial
Development and Promotion of the Private Sector.
5.(U) COMMENT: MINOCO represents the only/only
non-petroleum-sector U.S. investment in the Republic of Congo.
The travails of MINOCO in doing business in the Congo have been
the subject of frequent reporting. MINOCO has perennial
difficulty accessing rail transport for its flour from the mill
in Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville, faces stiff competition from
importers of milled flour from Europe, endures a tight retail

price control regime in the market here in which world wheat
price increases do not constitute a basis for downstream price
increases, and has recently learned that it apparently will have
to move the mill (comprising four substantial concrete silos)
away from its present very convenient location next to the dock,
according to the plans drawn up to implement the port
restructuring associated with the 27-year concession granted
last December to the French company Bollore Group. MINOCO was
hoping to receive a title deed for the mill property during the
signing ceremony (for leverage in the discussion with the
port/Bollore),but management was disappointed to learn at the
last minute that the only thing transferred would be the shares
of the previous government-owned feed mill which was the
privatized state entity.
THE OPPOSITION: TRAVEL BAN LIFTED, CHARGES AGAINST DZON REMAIN
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-------------- --------------
6.(U) The travel ban on opposition party leaders overseas travel
was lifted by Minister of State for Justice Aime Emmanuel Yoka
on November 3rd. This decision was reached following an Oct
31st meeting with opposition leaders, including Ange Edouard
Poungui, Mathias Dzon, General Ngolonduele and Guy Kinfouissa.
This travel ban surprised opposition leaders attempting to
travel since July; they learned of it when a couple of leaders
presented themselves at the airport for the Paris flight, and it
was compounded when two others found themselves barred from
boarding a domestic flight to Dolisie, where they planned to
organize a protest rally and meet with supporters. It was put in
place following a July 15 disturbance resulting from a public
meeting organized by the opposition to protest the announced
results of the July 12 presidential election.
7.(SBU) In addition, formal charges were filed against
opposition leader Mathias Dzon, including weapons charges, after
the incident. According to State Prosecution lawyer Essamy
Gatse, the charges against Dzon are still active, but he is
free to leave the country. Mr. Gatse stated that charges will
be dropped by the end of the year if there is no more
substantive evidence is discovered that would implicate him in
the case.
DZON DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN PARIS BEAC SCANDAL
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--------------
8.(U) Congolese opposition party member Mathias Dzon, who was
Congo's National Director at the Bank of Central African States
(BEAC) until his retirement at the end of December, 2008, was

BRAZZAVILL 00000331 002 OF 003


reported by the magazine Jeune Afrique to be implicated in an
Audit Committee Investigation Report of the Bank of Central
African States (BEAC). Jeune Afrique reported that Mathias Dzon
benefitted from 58 million CFA (roughly $128,889) traceable to
fraudulent activity in BEAC's Paris Office. Two other previous
Congolese ministers were included in the report, Pacifique
Issoibeka and Rigobert Andily, both prior Ministers of Finance.
Mathias Dzon has denied any involvement in the scandal, on his
part or that of a daughter also mentioned in the article, and
has threatened to sue BEAC for false claims.
BERNARD KOLELAS DIES IN PARIS (A not-so-brief item)
-------------- --------------
9.(U) Veteran Congolese politicial Bernard Kolelas died November
13 in Paris. He was 76. We offer the following by way of
obituary:
10.(U) Bernard Kolelas was a player in the Congolese political
arena since the 1960s, holding various positions including Prime
Minister, Mayor of Brazzaville, and Secretary of Foreign
Affairs, but throughout his political career his ambition to
ascend to the highest office in the land has always fallen
short. In the early years after independence, Kolelas was a
protege of Fulbert Youlou. After Youlou's fall, Kolelas went
into opposition, speaking out against Massamba-Debat's plan to
put in place a socialist regime in Congo. This earned him
criminal charges and exile in Kinshasa, where he helped
Prisident Youlou depart for Spain in 1965.
11.(U) Kolelas returned to Brazzaville during the presidency of
Marien Ngouabi and opposed Ngouabi's proclamation of the
Popular Republic of Congo as a Communist regime. He was accused
of plotting against the regime and was arrested several times
during Ngouabi's presidency.
12.(U) Kolelas experienced similar treatment by successors of
Marien Ngouabi , including presidents Jacques Joachim
Yhombi-Opango and Denis Sassou Nguesso. President Sassou
granted Kolelas relative freedom during his first 12 years in
power.
13.(U) At the beginning of the 1990's, with the convening of the
National Conference, Kolelas founded the MCDDI, one of the first
political parties. Kolelas was not shy in crediting himself
with bringing democracy in the Republic of Congo, claiming that
the National Conference of 1991 was his personal achievement.
The era of the early 1990s was the symbolic dawn of the
democratic process in the Congo and heralded a shift in the
political process. Kolelas was at the forefront with the
establishment of Le Movement Congolaise pour le Democracie et
Developpment Integral (MCDDI). One of the outcomes of the
National Conference was an agreement to hold national elections.
During the run-up to those first (and arguably only) democratic
elections in Congo in 1992, Kolelas enjoyed huge support and was
regarded as a front-runner among the three main candidates. In
the event, he came in second, behind Lissouba and ahead of
Sassou-Nguesso. A behind-the-scenes power sharing agreement
between Lissouba's UPADS and Sassou's PCT parties saw Kolelas'
ambitions for high office once again dashed when Lissouba took
office as President. The democratic honeymoon was short-lived
as Lissouba turned his back on whatever purported agreement was
made with Sassou (who came in third in the election),with a
public renunciation of the alleged agreement as notes on a
"sheet of paper." That episode created a political divide that
would soon thrust the country into civil war.
THE BIRTH OF THE NINJAS
14.(U) Kolelas became the Mayor of Brazzaville, a consolation of
sorts after his disappointment in the election. The mayoral
honeymoon was short-lived, as in 1993 the contending parties
went to war. Kolelas retreated to his main base of support in
the Pool, Kinkala and Goma Tse Tse (which he represented in the
National Assembly at the time of his death),prompted by an
incident in which the Lissouba-controlled Army killed several
protestors in a peaceful march of opposition supporters.
Adding further insult, Lissouba's base of civilian supporters
quickly moved to benefit from the shift in administration and
took the streets in Brazzaville, physically and forcibly
displacing Kolelas faithful from certain neighborhoods of
Brazzaville. The new Lissouba administration failed to take any
action. Retaliatory action by Kolelas supporters led to an
escalation of intra-party ethnic atrocities and a more
widespread civil conflict separated along tribal lines in the
south, pitting predominantly Kongo and Lari tribes, behind
Kolelas, and supporters of the so-called "Nibolek," (groups from
Niyari, Bouenza, and Lekoumou departments in the south),as well
as the Vili and Mbembe tribes, behind Lissouba.
15.(U) Towards the end of the civil war, Kolelas' newly formed
militia, the Ninjas, were alleged to have received aid from

BRAZZAVILL 00000331 003 OF 003


Sassou's own militia, the Cobras, joining forces against a
common enemy, Lissouba. Even after the civil was brought to
an end, both entities employed covert efforts geared toward
destabilizing the Lissouba government. Not to be outdone,
Lissouba formed a protective circle of his own tribe with the
Cocoyes. Though the present-day "Ninjas," who are responsible
for increasing insecurity in the Pool region in recent weeks,
bear the same name as Kolelas' militia, they are neither
associated with, nor loyal to, what remains of his political
party.
REVERSED ALLIANCES
16.(U) Fast-forward to the spring of 1997 at the height of
campaigns for the second post-national conference presidential
election. Sassou had returned from Paris to spearhead a return
to the Presidency. A controversial killing of an army official
in Makoua by Sassou's bodyguards, while on the campaign trail in
the north, led to an eventual showdown in Brazzaville when
Lissouba gave orders to arrest Sassou for obstruction of justice
as he return to the capital to continue his campaign run.
Sassou's protective cadre of Cobras proved to be formidable and
thus ensued a prolonged conflict between the Cobras and
government forces with Brazzaville at the centre, and thus the
second civil war in the Congo. As the war dragged on from June
into the summer, with significant casualties on both sides, and
the government forces reeling, Lissouba made a play for Kolelas'
support. In what many observers viewed as an alliance of the
North vs. the South, Kolelas lent the support of his Ninjas, to
his previously sworn enemy Lissouba, in exchange for an
appointment to a specially created post of the Prime Minister.
This was viewed as a most surprising development at the time as
Kolelas had remained on the sidelines during the face-off
between Sassou and Lissouba, offering to serve in the capacity
of mediator between the warring entities. The alliance proved
ill-fated as Sassou gained the support of Angolan forces and
assumed power in October 1997. Kolelas went into exile shortly
thereafter and was eventually tried in absentia on war crimes
charges under the new Sassou administration.
ENCORE UNE FOIS
17.(U) Kolelas was granted amnesty by President Sassou in 2005.
Upon his return, Kolelas engaged his political party, MCDDI, to
a peace and reconciliation process with the Sassou government.
In 2009, Kolelas signed an agreement to support Sassou during
this summer's presidential elections. Out of this agreement, two
ministerial appointments have been accorded to Guy Parfait
Kolelas (the biological son of Bernard Kolelas) , Minister of
Civil Service and State Reform and to Hello Mantson Mampouya
(Kolelas' son-in-law),Minister of Fishing and Aquaculture. Guy
Parfait was one of the co-managers of Sassou's re-election
campaign earlier this year.
18.(U) Kolelas' remains will be repatriated to Brazzaville at
the end of the week, and we expect a tumultuous reception and
public funeral to follow. Sassou-Nguesso issued a statement of
condolences, saying that Kolelas "had the worthiness and the
merit to have made the choice of reason, to put himself
sincerely and irreversibly on the side of peace, unity, and
reconciliation in our shared house, the Congo.
EASTHAM