PARECO-HUNDE RELUCTANT TO INTEGRATE

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000616 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS CG SUBJECT: PARECO-HUNDE RELUCTANT TO INTEGRATE ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The APCLS ("Alliance des Patriotes pour un Congo Libre" in French -- aka PARECO-Hunde) is reluctant to join the North Kivu integration process, ostensibly due to fears that newly FARDC-integrated members will be deployed outside of Hunde areas in North Kivu and leave their communities vulnerable to exploitation. APCLS and wider Hunde community suspicions of a deliberate, coordinated imposition of a Rwandophone political and economic dominance in North Kivu's "Petit Nord" will be an early test of the durability of the March peace agreements between the GDRC and armed groups. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) The GDRC had issued a June 10 deadline for the APCLS ("Alliance des Patriotes pour un Congo Libre" in French -- aka PARECO-Hunde) to integrate into the FARDC. After the ACPLS refused to integrate, FARDC senior officers were able to mediate the participation of 300 APCLS members. However, the FARDC allegedly plans to deploy integrated APCLS outside of North Kivu, which an ACPLS interlocutor told us was "unacceptable." A large number of the ACPLS remain outside of the integration process, including "General" Janvier. (Note: Janvier claims to control 12,000 members, whereas MONUC estimates the total force at 1,000. End note.) Janvier and his several hundred fighters may have participated in a June 16 attack on FARDC units - the FARDC response to the attack included PARECO-Hutu elements. ¶3. (SBU) The APCLS claims that the FARDC units deployed to Hunde areas in Masisi include former CNDP Tutsis. (Note: The FARDC commander in the area is a former CNDP lieutenant colonel. End note.) The group also suggested that Hunde property and physical security were at risk from Tutsi aspirations. APCLS interlocutors also claimed that the joint FARDC-MONUC Operation Kimia II was a pretext to infiltrate Tutsis (recently integrated CNDP) into ethnic Hunde heartlands in North Kivu. The ACPLS view themselves as the only obstacle between the newcomers and maintaining control of traditional Hunde lands. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: APCLS reluctance may presage an increase in ethnic tensions caused by the ascendancy of Rwandophones in North Kivu, as Kinyarwanda speaking Hutus and Tutsis challenge ethnic Hunde, Nande and other groups for political, military, and economic dominance in the southern region of North Kivu. The involvement of Hutu elements in the retaliatory attacks against APCLS may serve to reinforce the perception that Hunde interests are at risk to Rwandophone political and security aspirations. The ability of the GDRC and FARDC to address the concerns of armed groups regarding the perceived benefits/costs of integration will determine if tensions rise or fall. End comment.