ANGOLAN EMBASSY IN KINSHASA REGARDING ALLEGATIONS OF

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000231 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PBTS MOPS AO CG SUBJECT: ANGOLAN EMBASSY IN KINSHASA REGARDING ALLEGATIONS OF INCURSIONS INTO DRC TERRITORY REF: KINSHASA 220 and previous ¶1. (SBU) Further to reftel on alleged Angolan army incursions into DRC territory, a letter from Afonso Lufuaquenda, the Charge d'Affaires of the Angolan embassy in Kinshasa, appeared in the March 10 edition of the local newspaper "Le Potentiel." Lufuaquenda emphasizes in the letter that it was the Angolan border police which was deployed on the border, not the Angolan military. The letter also notes that representatives from the Zaire province of Angola and Bas-Congo province met from March 3-5 and that afterwards the Angolan border police elements left the Congolese village of Kuzi. ¶2. (U) Lufuaquenda also points out in this letter that the representatives at the March 3-5 meeting agreed to dispatch a team to determine the actual land and maritime borders between the two provinces. Finally, in reference to accusations of rape by Angolan soldiers printed in the pages of Le Potentiel, Lufuaquenda invites its staff to visit the area in question to confirm these accusations and chastises the paper for contributing to problems between the two states and peoples. ¶3. (U) Local and international press articles continue, however, to make allegations that run counter to Lufuaquenda's assertions. A BBC article dated March 9 (printing information from Radio France International) reported the presence of both Angolan soldiers and border guards in Bas-Congo. Information issued March 10 from Radio Okapi asserted that Angolan soldiers were reinforcing their presence in the two villages in Bas-Congo. ¶4. (U) Le Potentiel also printed a communique which was issued following the March 3-5 meetings. An unofficial embassy translation from the French follows: Begin translation of communique: "At the request of the governor of Bas-Congo, a meeting was held from March 3-5, 2009 at Mbanza-Kongo, chief town of the Angolan province of Zaire, of the joint defense, security and public order sub-commission between the provinces of Zaire and Bas-Congo. The opening session was presided by His Excellency General Pedro Sebastiao, governor of the province of Zaire, and closed by General Francisco Massota, the delegate of the Interior Ministry and provincial commander of the National police of Zaire. After fruitful debates on the security situation along the common border between the two provinces, the following recommendations were adopted: -- Establishing an urgent joint commission of experts between the two countries to scientifically make a decision on the issue of marking land and sea borders between the two provinces; -- the withdrawal of units of the Angolan border police guard from the occupied sector in the Kuzi village, and that, pending the conclusions of the works of the aforementioned joint commission of experts; -- the return of the Congolese population having fled a sector of the Kuzi village so that they can freely go about they usual chores; -- regularly holding joint meetings between the two provinces, Zaire and Bas-Congo. The delegates of the provinces of Zaire and Bas Congo expressed their satisfaction on the harmonious course of the session." ¶5. (SBU) Comment: Lufuaquenda's letter and the communique leave no doubt that there is a border-related dispute between Angola and DRC, although both documents remain silent as to whether the area where the incident occurred belongs to Angola or the DRC. Also, while both documents claim that Angolan border police have left the village of Kuzi, there is no mention of an Angolan presence in the other site, Sava Ina. End comment. GARVELINK