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.