Looting at North Kivu IDP Camp Attributed to ex-CNDP

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 000029 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/28 TAGS: PHUM PREF MOPS PGOV PREL MONUC CG SUBJECT: Looting at North Kivu IDP Camp Attributed to ex-CNDP Elements REF: KINSHASA 23 CLASSIFIED BY: William J. Garvelink, Ambassador, STATE, Embassy Kinshasa; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (SBU) United Nations Mission in the Democratic of Congo (MONUC) sources confirmed to us that Major Muzungu, the leader of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) unit that pillaged an IDP camp in Muhanga in North Kivu on January 15 (reftel),formerly belonged to the CNDP (CongrC(s National pour la DC)fense du Peuple/National Congress for the Defense of the People),a Congolese Tutsi militia that was effectively disbanded when the DRC and Rwanda reconciled in January, 2009. The sources, who are based in Kitchanga, said that the other 19 FARDC soldiers involved in the looting were also ex-CNDP "integrated" into the FARDC. The camp's inhabitants, according to MONUC, are primarily Congolese ethnic Hutus. The ex-CNDP FARDC in the area have accused the camp's residents of being sympathizers of the FDLR (Front DC)moratique pour la LibC)ration du Rwanda/Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda),a loose union of Rwandan Hutus that has been operating inside the DRC since the defeat of Rwandan genocidaires in 1994. ¶2. (C) Comment: In addition to the issue of MONUC troops abandoning the camp to the FARDC (reftel),this incident highlights that the overwhelming majority of ex-CNDP "integrated" elements continue to operate within their old command and control structures. Moreover, such abuses will only increase the local population's sympathy for groups fighting the FARDC, such as the FDLR and the predominantly Hunde-based APCLS (Alliance Patriotique pour un Congo Libre et Souverain/Patriotic Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo). End comment. GARVELINK