OPERATION LIGHTNING THUNDER: SITUATION FROM DUNGU

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000172

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS PHUM PREF KPKO CG
SUBJECT: OPERATION LIGHTNING THUNDER: SITUATION FROM DUNGU


1. (SBU) Summary: Goma poloff recently traveled to Dungu in Haut
Uele with MONUC escorts to gather information related to Operation
Lightning Thunder. All MONUC personnel remain garrisoned at the
Dungu airstrip, which is well guarded by an unknown number of UPDF
and FARDC battalions. No MONUC forces are stationed outside of
Dungu. The head of OCHA in Dungu credited the FARDC with improving
relations between MONUC and the community. The FARDC soldiers in
the region enjoy the support of the local population, and have
reportedly successfully explained to civilians MONUC's vital
supporting role. Sources in Dungu and Goma credit the FARDC with
deterring LRA attacks in villages where they deploy. They seldom
deploy to the most vulnerable smaller villages, however, until after
the LRA has struck. According to OCHA, residents want to be rid of
the despised LRA and do not object to operations against them.
However, there is a perception that the implementation of Operation
Lightning Thunder was badly bungled. IDP's in Dungu have received
adequate assistance, but residents and displaced in other less
accessible areas (including Faradje and Doruma) are reportedly still
in need of food. End Summary.

The Long Journey North
--------------


2. (SBU) Goma poloff, accompanied by MONUC Deputy Chief of Staff
Colonel James Cunliffe and two other MONUC officers, recently
traveled to Dungu. The long unpaved airstrip in Dungu can handle
considerable traffic, and MONUC and other humanitarian agencies land
up to ten flights a day. Visitors, once rare, have become more
frequent. MONUC maintains a MI-24 and two MI-17 helicopters at
Dungu and uses them to make frequent day trips to more remote
villages such as Doruma. All MONUC personnel (two companies of
Moroccan peacekeepers at present) are garrisoned at the airstrip,
which is well guarded by an unknown number of UPDF and FARDC
battalions. No MONUC forces are stationed outside of Dungu in Haut
Uele.

Origins of Current Conflict
--------------


3. (SBU) In the extended village of Dungu, a 30-minute ride from
the airstrip, poloff spoke with the head of the UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who set up the OCHA office in
Dungu in September 2007. MONUC engineers first arrived in June 2007
to begin construction of the airstrip, which was intended to support
MONUC/FARDC's Operation Rudia to contain LRA elements resident in
the Garamba National Park. OCHA Head of Office Dungu said the LRA
largely remained in the park, but abducted several youths from
nearby villages during 2007 and early 2008.


4. (SBU) On September 17, 2008 the LRA launched simultaneous
attacks on 20 villages in Haut Uele. Several villages were burned
and "dozens" of civilians were killed. Forty-eight youths were
abducted from Kilewa and another 60 from Dubua (as heard).
Thousands of villagers fled to Dungu, and some vented their anger at
MONUC for, in their view, not protecting them adequately. A mob of
protestors attacked a MONUC Military Observation Post in the village
of Dungu, burning their vehicle and pillaging the outpost. More
IDP's arrived after LRA attacks in December and early 2009,
eventually swelling the IDP population to the estimated current
total of 160,000.


5. (SBU) OCHA Head of Office Dungu credited the FARDC with
improving relations between MONUC and the Dungu community. The
FARDC soldiers in the region, which include Republican Guard and
Angolan-trained battalions, enjoy the support of the local
population, and have explained well MONUC's vital supporting role.
Poloff heard no reports of FARDC looting or rape, but he did not
venture into what are approximately a dozen smaller villages around
Dungu and Faradje where the FARDC has deployed small units of
soldiers. OCHA and a number of UN offices and NGO's maintain
contact with the FARDC force commander through a liaison officer,
but OCHA reported it is possible to reach the commander on short
notice even when the liaison officer is absent.


6. (SBU) Goma poloff noted no interaction between the Moroccan
MONUC escort and local residents, who observed the UN Humvees with
sullen expressions (Comment: Poor and/or distant relations with the
locals is normal for MONUC forces, who do not speak the local
language and have no public outreach programs. End comment).
Communication may, however, improve soon; poloff spoke to a
three-person MONUC MILOBS advance team, who said they would
recommend that MILOBS be returned to the village of Dungu.
According to OCHA, residents want to be rid of the despised LRA and
do not object to operations against them, but believe the
implementation of Operation Lightening Thunder was badly bungled.


KINSHASA 00000172 002 OF 002


Current Security Situation
--------------


7. (SBU) Sources in Dungu and Goma credit the FARDC with deterring
LRA attacks in villages where they deploy. They seldom deploy to
the most vulnerable smaller villages, however, until after the LRA
has struck. OCHA advocated wider deployment of MONUC troops in
three key towns: Dungu, Doruma and Faradje, as villagers from
outlying areas tend to flee to these areas when they perceive a
threat from the LRA (Comment: MONUC opposes the concept of "safe
haven" areas, and SRSG Doss stated that to employ wider protection
services, MONUC needed to deploy the recently approved 3,000
additional peacekeepers. End comment).


8. (SBU) Several sources in Dungu and Goma state that many small
villages have begun to organize self-defense units. An AP reporter
in Dungu said he has heard that locals have begun to manufacture
home-made guns, and he was able document primitive gun manufacturing
in progress. Such self-defense units have reportedly successfully
defended their villages from LRA attacks and the AP reporter
provided specific and credible details of one such defense that led
to many LRA deaths (although the precise numbers were unverified).


9. (SBU) While MONUC handles logistics through Dungu and the FARDC
deploys to some vulnerable villages, the Ugandan People's Defense
Force (UPDF) is reportedly tracking groups of LRA fighters in the
forests. UPDF Commander Brigadier General Patrick Kankiriho told
Cunliffe that UPDF pressure has caused the LRA to split into many
small groups, some as small as two or three men. Other sources
claim at least one larger group of LRA still occupies the vast
Garamba National Park. Kankiriho has collected several recent media
reports about LRA killings which followed the launch of Operation
Lightning Thunder. He claimed (somewhat defensively) that the
figure of 900 civilian deaths was exaggerated.


10. (SBU) Kankiriho said the UPDF would welcome a Joint Operations
Center with MONUC and the FARDC to facilitate broader information
sharing. MONUC will follow up aggressively on this. The UN will
soon deploy a Protection Response Team to Dungu with representatives
of the Political, Child Support, and Civil Affairs units. UNHCR and
UNICEF are already present in Dungu.


11. (SBU) Contacts in Goma and Dungu reported no massacres in
recent days, but the LRA is still active. An FARDC patrol was
reportedly "ambushed" approximately 16 kilometers south of Faradje
on February 10. Six FARDC soldiers were wounded, two seriously. A
FARDC source claimed they killed 11 of the LRA attackers, but this
has not been verified. Additionally, a priest in Dungu told poloff
that two youths were abducted (presumably by the LRA) 26 miles east
of Dungu on February 1, and that there had been "problems" in Gilima
(north of Dungu) within the past week.


12. (SBU) OCHA has a detailed map for conducting humanitarian
missions outside of Dungu and reported the road north to the border
with Sudan is generally safe, but assistance teams can only travel
12 kilometers to the east in safety. IDP's in Dungu have received
adequate assistance, but residents and displaced in other less
accessible areas (including Faradje and Doruma) are reportedly still
in need of food.

Rescued Abductees
--------------


13. (SBU) UPDF forces provided MONUC officers access to four
children who had been abducted by the LRA, then rescued by the UPDF.
MONUC officers estimated that the youths were between 8 and 18
years of age, and severely traumatized, with the "thousand yard
stare" of victims of extreme violence. Only one was willing to talk
about his experiences, saying that he had seen "bad things
everywhere." Two of the abductees were from Sudan and two from DRC.


Comment
--------------


14. (SBU) This report tracks with information from several other
sources, including humanitarian organizations, which described the
FARDC (and Republican Guard) as well-disciplined. As for MONUC, its
role is clearly limited for the moment and is unlikely to increase,
absent a significant infusion of forces. The GDRC, for its part,
would like for the UPDF to exit Congolese territory expeditiously
for political reasons, but this operation continues to attract far
less attention (positive or negative) than do more pressing problems
in the Kivus.

GARVELINK