NGO OFFICIALS RELEASED AS KABILA-KAMERHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 000251 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM CG SUBJECT: NGO OFFICIALS RELEASED AS KABILA-KAMERHE GAMESMANSHIP CONTINUES REF: KINSHASA 245 Classified By: Ambassador William J. Garvelink for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Human Rights NGO officials, arrested March 15 to pre-empt street violence the following day in conjunction with the opening of Parliament, have been released. The National Assembly has not yet taken steps to remove its president, Vital Kamerhe, who is locked in a power struggle with President Joseph Kabila. It may be more difficult to vote Kamerhe out of office than was previously believed. Kabila is reportedly remaining in Goma until the Kamerhe issue is resolved. If the issue is not resolved soon street violence could occur or Kamerhe could suffer physical harm. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Dolly Inefo, Deputy Executive Director of the NGO Voix Sans Voix (VSV),told emboff March 18 that DRC authorities had released him, VSV Executive Director Floribert Chebaya, and Donat Tshikaya, a Director with the NGO RENADHOC. The national police (PNC) had arrested them at a March 15 press conference (ref A). According to Inefo, they were taken to Kinmaziere prison March 15, then to National Security Agency (ANR -- "Agence Nationale de Renseignements") facilities the same day where they were interrogated, stripped, photographed, and then returned to Kinmaziere prison. Kinmaziere is a special prison in Kinshasa that is run by PNC's special intelligence service ("Renseignements Generaux du Service Special de la Police"). The GDRC does not allow outside access to Kinmaziere detainees, including from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN Joint Human Rights Office. Inefo claims that a police official told him that the three were released on the order of Prince Kaumba, the national security counselor to President Kabila. ¶3. (C) Inefo said attorneys for the two NGO's would go March 18 to ANR offices to request the return of property (security cameras, two computers, cell phones) taken from the NGO's on March 15. He also noted that three students from the National Teachers University (UPN--"Universite Pedagogique Nationale"),who were arrested by the PNC March 14 for carrying flyers supporting the National Assembly investigation of Rwandan and Ugandan troop activity in the DRC, remained in detention at Kinmaziere prison. ¶4. (SBU) Following the March 16 opening of Parliament, a member of National Assembly President Vital Kamerhe's staff told us March 18 that the National Assembly "Conference of Chairmen", the collection of assembly leadership that determines the legislative calendar, did not meet March 17, but may meet as early as March 19. The calendar will likely include the question of a no confidence vote against Kamerhe. Local press reported that Aubin Minaku, a member of majority coalition AMP, announced March 17 the participation of AMP deputies in the next plenary and "Conference of Chairmen." According to article 64 of the National Assembly by-laws, two-thirds of the legislature's members must be present in plenary for the motion to hold a no-confidence vote. ¶5. (C) According to well-placed sources President Joseph Kabila, who has been traveling in the eastern DRC for several weeks, has decided to prolong his trip, delaying his return until the weekend at the earliest. We understand that Kabila does not want to return to Kinshasa until the Kamerhe question has been resolved. ¶6. (C) Comment: The release of the NGO officials at the request of Kaumba, if true as claimed by Inefo, suggests that some of Kabila's advisors appreciate the potential negative consequences of domestic and international disapproval of the arrests and the adverse impact on the DRC's human rights record of prolonged detention. The Kamerhe-Kabila rift has now entered a phase of political gamesmanship within the National Assembly. Kamerhe can buy time through legal maneuvering, but Kabila's supporters can also buy something: enough legislators, even as many as two thirds of the membership, to out vote Kamerhe. If the issue is not resolved soon street violence could occur or Kamerhe could suffer physical harm. End Comment. GARVELINK