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. GARVELINK