POSSIBLE U.S.-EU ENGAGEMENT ON SECURITY SECTOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000285

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV BE CG
SUBJECT: POSSIBLE U.S.-EU ENGAGEMENT ON SECURITY SECTOR
(MILITARY) REFORM

REF: USDEL SECTO 3202341

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Garvelink for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)

Van der Geer visits with EU delegation
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1. (SBU) On March 18 EU Great Lakes Envoy Roeland van der
Geer met with Ambassador, DCM and USAID director to discuss
possible U.S.-EU cooperation in the area of Security Sector
Reform. Van der Geer came with a large retinue including
General Jean-Paul Michel, head of European Security
Cooperation in Kinshasa; Joao Duarte, deputy chief of
the European Union mission here; a representative of EUPOL,
the EU's police cooperation mission; several EU mission
staffers; and two employees of the Czech Embassy,
representing the EU presidency. Van de Geer noted that the
EU no longer used the term "SSR" (security sector reform),
as it lacked precision. The EU's main focus will be
"military reform," although it would continue to contribute
to strengthen the Congolese National Police Force through
EUPOL, and judicial reform through several ongoing
programs.


2. (SBU) The EU was particularly interested in greater
cooperation with the U.S. on military reform. The EU had
already completed a comprehensive census of the Congolese
military (FARDC),which had shown that GDRC estimates of
the FARDC's force levels were highly inflated. The EU had
also devised a method to ensure that soldiers were being
paid on a regular basis, historically a major cause of
discontent within the FARDC's rank and file. The EU, van
der Geer explained, believed that the FARDC's reform plan,
as modified by Defense Minister Charles Mwanda Nsimba, was
imperfect but nonetheless a far better document than the
plan previously submitted by former Defense Minister
Chikez Diemu. The Mwanda plan could, at the very least,
serve as the basis of discussions between the Defense
Ministry and foreign donors.


3. (SBU) General Michel lauded increased U.S.-EU military
liaison efforts in recent weeks. Van der Geer explained
that the EU wanted to make military reform a high priority
and wanted to engage with the U.S. as well as other non-EU
donors, particularly the South Africans, Angolans and
Chinese. He asked the U.S. for its views on how to bring
these important partners, who have significant
military-to-military programs in the DRC, into the
mainstream military donors club. He noted that the Dutch
had worked closely with the South Africans in a triangular
arrangement involving Dutch financing for South African
training of the FARDC.

U.S. proposes monthly meetings of DCM's and DATT's
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4. (C) Ambassador Garvelink replied that military reform
was also a high priority for the U.S., noting that he had
recently created an internal embassy working group on this
issue. He referred to ongoing efforts to launch the
U.S.-sponsored Rapid Reaction Force training program in
Kisangani, which was designed to be a model battalion to be
emulated by other FARDC units. He referred to agreements
between the U.S. and GDRC on who should be selected for the
training. In the area of intra-donor community
coordination and cooperation he expressed U.S. support for
the idea of inclusiveness, i.e., that the South Africans,
Angolans and Chinese should also participate. He noted
that the DCM and DATT would soon meet with their Belgian
counterparts to discuss how to re-energize donor community
coordination. The U.S., the ambassador said, wanted to
institute regular meetings of all donors to include DCM's
and DATT's. The Belgians, as the most active EU military
cooperation provider, would be invited to join the U.S.
setting up the DCM-DATT mechanism. (Note: Reftel refers
to possible U.S.-Belgian cooperation this area as discussed
at March 6 meeting between Secretary Clinton and Belgian
fonmin De Gucht; this encounter and discussions between the
two ministers were not mentioned when ambassador referred
to our upcoming meeting with the Belgians. End note.) Van
der Geer agreed this was a good initiative and said the
EU would support it fully.


5. (C) Comment: The EU has clearly not given up on SSR,
i.e., military reform. They hope to enlist U.S. support to
move the process forward, which has been stuck for some
time. We note that we are of like mind in supporting more
inclusive coordination to include the South Africans,

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Angolans, and Chinese. Depending on the outcome of our
meeting next week with the Belgians (the U.S. and Belgian
DCM's and DATT's will get together on March 31),we will
move to set up the first DCM-DATT meeting to discuss
strategies for engaging with the Congolese defense
establishment (civilian and military sides) and report back
on our findings. Finally, a major challenge in this
process will be intra-EU cooperation, which we cannot
influence. The EU acts as one, although its member states
undertake bilateral actions vis-a-vis the DRC that can
undermine what the EU itself is doing. This will be a
major challenge. End comment.
GARVELINK