UNGA 64: USG GOALS AND OBJECTIVES TRANSMITTED TO

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000845 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP (SUN),AF (BOWLES),AND AF/C E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL UNGA PGOV CG SUBJECT: UNGA 64: USG GOALS AND OBJECTIVES TRANSMITTED TO THE DRC REF: STATE 90254 ¶1. (SBU) Polcouns met with Banza Ngoy Katumwe, head of the MFA's International Organizations Directorate, to present USG goals and objectives for the upcoming UNGA session, as outlined in reftel. Ngoy appreciated USG efforts in the UN framework on peacekeeping and conflict management, and gender issues. Ngoy said the GDRC strongly supported a follow-on resolution to UNSCR 1820, demanding a halt to acts of sexual violence against civilians in conflict zones. ¶2. (SBU) Ngoy said GDRC priorities at UNGA centered around the conflict in Eastern DRC: stopping illegal trafficking in minerals; increasing the capacity of security forces, particularly police, to ensure they could take up the slack when MONUC eventually withdraws; better assistance for IDPs and refugees, as these groups begin to return home; and combating the proliferation of small arms/light weapons throughout the DRC following a decade of conflict. Ngoy highlighted security sector reform, particularly in the justice sector, as a priority area for the GDRC. Ngoy said Foreign Minister Thambwe would lobby at the UNGA for increased donor assistance for the DRC justice sector, which Ngoy characterized as "broken down." GARVELINK