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