FOLLOW-UP TO REQUEST FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING FOR

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001034 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC MARR MASS PREL PHUM CG SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP TO REQUEST FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING FOR U.S.-SPONSORED TRAINING: TO BEGIN DECEMBER 11, 2009 IN ITURI, DRC. REF: KINSHASA 000974 ¶1. (SBU) Subsequent to vetting request cable: 000974, Post has received derogatory information from MONUC, regarding two candidates: Colonel Willy Bonane and Mulimbi Lufungula. As a result, post revokes its earlier recommendation regarding eligibility for training of these two candidates. They are not/not eligible for training. ¶2. (SBU) The following is information received about Colonel Willy Bonane: "The Deputy Commander OPS/RENS, Colonel Willy Bonane (number 2, list 1) has a bad human rights record and appears in several cases in our database and in several lists of potential spoilers of the different peace processes. He is the former commander of the 4th Integrated Brigade in Ituri (2006-2009),former commander of the 11th brigade FARDC/ex-ANC and former ANC officer. He was the commander of the 11 Brigade FARDC/ex-ANC in the incidents of Nyabiondo of December 2004 when two Battalions of the 11 Bde FARDC/ex-ANC suppported by hutu militias attacked Nyabiondo (then occupied by another army unit, FARDC/ex-Mayi Mayi) and killed at least 60 civilians. MONUC investigated this case thorugh a Special Investigation. At the time he was suspected of providing weapons to hutu civilians and having at least command responsibility over the incident. One of the Battalions directly implicated in the killings was commanded by Bonane's own nephew, Major Gervais Kambale. After the killings, the town of Nyabiondo was openly looted by the FARDC/ex-ANC, who even used official transport to moved looted products to Goma. The compound of the NGO AAA was looted and an official complaint was filed against Bonane for his alleged responsibility in the organised looting. Military Justice opened a case in Goma but Bonane was never tried. Since his deployment in Ituri in 2006 there have been some cases of abuse of power (i.e. in Mongwalu he gave monopoly of meat butchery to three individuals prohibiting all other butchers of the region to exercise their trade). His nephew Gervais Kambale accompanied him to Ituri where he ended up involved in a case of torture and murder (he is still at large)" ¶3. (SBU) The following is information received about Colonel Mulimbi Lufungula: "The Deputy Commander ADM/LOG Colonel Mulimbi Lufungula (number 3, list 1) does not appear in our database in connection to any specific case but we have some information about his background. Ex-FAZ air forces, he was reportedly close to Laurent Desire Kabila (he was his personal plane pilot during AFDL rebellion) and later became a high ranking officer in the Military Intelligence Services (called DEMIAP, at the time). He was Director of DEMIAP Domestic Security department (counter-intelligence) and later became General Director of DEMIAP. DEMIAP had quite a bad record on human rights including allegations of torture and executions. It is difficult to establish direct links with specific cases for that period (our database dates from 2003 and these are 1999-2000 cases). He (Mulimbi) was arrested during the investigation on the assasination of LD Kabila but was later released and became an investigator in this case too. In the context of the Kabila assasination investigation, local NGOs reported at the time how one suspect was obliged to execute fellow prisoners during interrogation sessions, on orders of one of the people participating in the interrogations, a certain "Colonel Mulimbi". We cannot confirm this is the same Mulimbi and we cannot confirm the case, but it is likely as at the time he was the chief of military intelligence and probably was one of the officers leading the questionning." GARVELINK