DRC PARLIAMENT PASSES AMNESTY LAW

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000458 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM MOPS PREL CG SUBJECT: DRC PARLIAMENT PASSES AMNESTY LAW ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On May 5, the National Assembly sent a law granting amnesty to Congolese citizens for acts of war and insurrection in North and South Kivu to President Kabila for promulgation. The GDRC committed to pass an amnesty law in the agreement closing the January 2008 Goma peace conference. The National Assembly had sent a version to the Senate in July 2008, which the Senate refused to act on earlier this year. A joint parliamentary commission (conference committee) was therefore convened, as laid out in parliamentary by-laws, to resolve differences between the two chambers. The law provides amnesty for acts of war and insurrection from June 2003 until the date signed by President Kabila. The law does not provide amnesty for genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity. Former CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda faces war crimes charges; GDRC Spokesman Lambert Mende emphasized that the amnesty will not apply to Nkunda. Passage of the law is an early success for the new leadership of the National Assembly, which faces several legislative challenges in 2009. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Article four of the "Actes d'Engagement (accords)" signed by armed groups and the GDRC at the Goma peace conference in January 2008 committed the GDRC to submit an amnesty law to Parliament for legislative action. The law was to cover acts of war and insurrection in North and South Kivu by Congolese armed groups from June 2003 until the date of promulgation of the law. The Goma agreement excluded crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide from the amnesty law. ¶3. (SBU) The National Assembly passed the law on July 12, 2008 and transmitted the draft to the Senate. The Senate did not take up debate on the law until March 2009, initially for procedural reasons. The current version, endorsed by the "commission mixte" or conference committee, includes an expanded definition of "acts of war" and "acts of insurrection" and excludes a passage on future liability for past acts (acts that are amnestied by the present law) that was included in the July 2008 version. After the mixed commission approved the text, the National Assembly approved the draft 298 to 29 (Note: Approximately a hundred opposition deputies boycotted the vote in protest of the "discriminatory nature of the draft law." Their primary concern is that the law is geographically narrow in scope, not applying to offenses committed outside of the Kivus, i.e., in Bas-Congo, Katanga, or even in Kinshasa. End note). The next step is for President Kabila to promulgate the law. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The passage of the amnesty law represents a tangible action by the GDRC, both the executive and the legislative branches, to fulfill the Goma peace conference obligations. The January 2009 transition of the CNDP from a military movement into a political one, in conjunction with the removal of Laurent Nkunda as its chairman and symbol, helped to create an environment in which passage of an amnesty law was politically acceptable. The fate of Nkunda is still unclear; the DRC has filed an extradition request with Rwanda and discussions continue between the GDRC and GoR on extradition modalities. If Nkunda is transferred to DRC authority, he is ineligible for amnesty as he faces war crimes charges. The new National Assembly leadership has passed an early test, as it kept majority alliance members in line to achieve passage of the law, persevering even more than a year after the Goma accords were signed. Tough legislative challenges remain, however, including the passage of controversial laws establishing the successor organization to the independent electoral commission prior to local elections and laws establishing provincial and sub-provincial boundaries as part of the decentralization process. With national elections scheduled for 2011, local elections should be held this year if the country is to avoid elections saturation. End comment. GARVELINK