CEREMONY TRUMPETS COMPLETION OF INTEGRATION PROCESS

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000406

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS PHUM PREF CG
SUBJECT: CEREMONY TRUMPETS COMPLETION OF INTEGRATION PROCESS


1. (SBU) Goma officer, together with other international community
representatives, participated in a ceremony in Goma on April 18 to
mark the end of the integration process in North Kivu.
Representatives of all armed groups in North and South Kivu, except
the FRF, were present.


2. (SBU) Representatives from the North Kivu armed groups also
signed a declaration ending their existence as armed groups or
politico-military movements. They recognized that henceforth
members of their groups carrying a weapon should be considered
bandits, and reiterated their commitment to pursuing their interests
through peaceful political means only.


3. (SBU) The FARDC also provided the latest official figures for
troops integrated from October 2008 (when the process technically
began) through April 18. A number of interesting points to note are
as follows:

-- excluding CNDP and PARECO, only 3,772 armed group members were
integrated out of a declared collective strength of 11,241 (i.e.
less than 30%);

-- excluding CNDP and PARECO, the armed groups produce only 307
weapons. Almost 50 percent of those hading in a weapon opted for
DDR;

-- only five ercent of all troops opted to demobilize through tis
process, meaning this has been a mass recruitent drive for the
FARDC;

-- 3,068 soldiers reain neither identified nor located, even by
unit ommanders. Some of these individuals are likely dserers,
while others perhaps do not exist or wee not counted due to poor
organization.


4. (BU) Comment: There have been innumerable declaratons of
peace and commitments to disarm on the par of the armed groups
since the beginning of the ear. While such declarations are always
welcomeas recognizable political steps (and it is admittely
significant that it was openly acknowledged a the ceremony that no
one other than a designatedagent of the state has the right to
carry a weapn in North Kivu),their effective and long-term
emobilization and disarmament will depend on a muliplicity of
factors, including the integration pocess. While the announcement
of the "end" of ths process may have been useful from a political
perspective and technically true, no one should assume that it, in
reality, is anywhere near completion, in the sense of being properly
carried out. End comment.
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