Angola Open to Engaging with International Community to

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LUANDA 000079

SIPDIS
FOR SPECIAL ADVISOR HOWARD WOLPE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/26
TAGS: PREL CG KDEM OVIP AO
SUBJECT: Angola Open to Engaging with International Community to
Bring Peace to DRC

REF: A. LUANDA 65

CLASSIFIED BY: Dan Mozena, AMBASSADOR, Dept of State, AMBASSADOR;
REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Angola pulled out all the stops in
welcoming the Secretary's Great Lakes Special Advisor Howard Wolpe
and Special Envoys from the EU, South Africa, Norway and Sweden
during their February 16 - 18 visit to Luanda. Separate meetings
with the President, Minister of State for Military Affairs, Defense
Minister and Foreign Minister made clear that Angola shares US
visions of a DRC that is "peaceful, secure and stable." Angola
also shares US concerns about the DRC's weak military, police and
judicial system and the lack of strong, effective leadership from
the central government. President Dos Santos suggested that
Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Republic of Congo could form a
working group to engage with DRC President Kabila to urge him to
address these underlying issues. Meanwhile, Angola remains willing
to train DRC military and police personnel, but such training
remains suspended on the DRC's part. END SUMMARY.




2. (C) The Government of Angola used its thickest red carpet
in welcoming the Secretary's Special Advisor for Africa's Great
Lakes Region Dr. Howard Wolpe, his deputy Amb. James Yellin and the
Great Lakes special envoys from the EU (Amb. Roeland Van de Geer),
South Africa (Amb. Dumisani Kumalo),Norway (Amb. Arild Oyen) and
Sweden (Amb. Lena Sundh) during their Feb. 16 - 18 visit to Luanda
to explore with the Angolans how best to proceed in promoting peace
and stability in troubled DRC. In separate meetings with the
envoys, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, new Minister of State
and Chief of Military Affairs General Manuel Helder Vieira Dias
Junior ("Kopelipa"),new Defense Minister Candido Pereira dos
Santos Van Dunem, and Foreign Minister Assuncao dos Anjos were
warm, open and frank in conveying the importance of DRC to Angolan
stability, the frustration that Angola feels in trying to work with
the Congolese government and military, and their willingness to
explore with the envoys how Angola can better contribute to
bringing peace, security and stability to the DRC. COMMENT:
Angola's reception of Wolpe and the other envoys stunned locally
resident ambassadors, who had never seen the GRA engage a visiting
delegation in such depth, including by the heretofore powerful, but
ever elusive General Kopelipa. END COMMENT.



THE ENVOYS' MESSAGE




3. (C) Although South African Envoy Kumalo led the delegation
of envoys, Special Advisor Wolpe and EU Envoy Van de Geer carried
most of the water in conveying the envoys' concerns over the lack
of progress in stabilizing the DRC, despite considerable efforts
and assistance by the international community. The envoys also
conveyed their frustrations with both the DRC's continued failure
to bolster the military, the police and the judicial system and the
lack of strong leadership from President Kabila in addressing these
shortcomings and otherwise strengthening the DRC's democratic
institutions. The envoys highlighted DRC reluctance in dealing
with security sector reform, observing that "the Congolese don't
take ownership of the problems." They observed that after
training, security units often were dispersed, and that there was
no effective chain of command. EU envoy Van de Geer noted that the
Congolese military was more a danger to the people of eastern Congo
than a help. The envoys declared that re-establishing and
strengthening state authority was critical to achieving security
sector reform and improving the situation in eastern Congo.




4. (C) Other points raised by the envoys included the need
to fight illegal exploitation of DRC natural resources by
outsiders, the need to stop sexual violence in the east, and the
need for Angola and the DRC to improve their bilateral
relationship. The envoys conveyed their view that countries in the

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region, especially the Southern Africa Development Community
(SADC),should take the lead on the DRC situation. They identified
Angola as having a key role to play in "helping to guide the DRC
along the way."



THE ANGOLAN TAKE ...




5. (C) Agreeing with the envoys' description of the
frustrating situation in the DRC, President Dos Santos queried,
"What do the Congolese want? Does the Congolese leadership have
any awareness of the situation in the DRC? What do the Congolese
want the international community to do?" Clearly exasperated with
the situation in the Congo, Dos Santos said the Congolese need to
make a "diagnosis" of the situation and then develop a plan for
how to deal with the issues.




6. (C) Dos Santos suggested that Angola and South Africa,
along with Tanzania and Repubic of Congo, could form a small group
to communicate with the DRC leadership on the need to prepare an
analysis of the situation and to develop a plan accordingly. After
some discussion, the President concurred that Rwanda and Uganda
should not be part of this group "until later on." The President
highlighted several areas that need urgent attention in the DRC:
improving the effectiveness of the Executive, strengthening
judicial structures, bolstering the armed forces, and launching
development and reconstruction of the country. Dos Santos
underscored that President Kabila's personal commitment to tackle
these challenges was essential if change were to happen, adding
that Kabila "needs a strong team to undertake reform." Dos Santos
opined that "maybe Angola can help DRC make a more detailed plan."
In response to Van de Geer's statement that the President's
engagement in high level dialogue with Kabila would be most
welcome, Dos Santos said he had already spoken with South African
President Zuma and Kabila on the matter.




7. (C) In a meeting with the envoys immediately before the
one with the President, Minister of State and Chief of Military
Affairs General Kopelipa gave a crisp, four-part statement:



- The situation in the DRC: Kopelipa agreed fully with
the envoys' description of the current situation in the Congo. He
said the DRC has institutional problems relating to four key
"pillars:" public administration, armed forces, police and
judicial system. He said that since these pillars are not
functioning, the DRC suffers from growing poverty, AIDS, poor
performance on decommissioning and disarmament, and reintegration
of ex-combatants. He underscored that "the DRC must have the
capacity to enforce peace through force."

- Role of Angola in the DRC: Angola is working with the
US, EU, SADC and CEAC to bring peace, security and stability to the
region. Angola is also engaged bilaterally with the DRC to support
training police and armed forces.

- Problems between Angola and the DRC: Kopelipa
maintained that Angola has always had good relations with the DRC.
He said Angola had to expel a "massive illegal migration " of
Congolese who had come to Angola for diamonds, gold and timber.
Kopelipa said the DRC government did not understand why Angola had
to expel these illegals, so it retaliated by expelling Angolans
legally living in the DRC. Kopelipa added that the DRC also
unilaterally established the land and sea borders between the
countries. He said Angola was willing to turn to Portugal and
Belgium and the Gulf of Guinea Commission for help in defining the

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borders; the DRC had agreed to these approaches, Kopelipa said, but
had not followed through. Kopelipa underscored that Angola is not
against the DRC, but simply wants a peaceful, stable and secure
DRC.

- Next steps in solving the DRC situation: Kopelipa
declared that Angola "is ready to cooperate with the international
community to solve the problems of the DRC. . .we are open to
finding solutions." He declared that the DRC leadership "needs to
do more." When asked subsequently whether Angola would consider
appointing an envoy to join the group of envoys, including a
possible upcoming trip to China, Kopelipa said he "took note of the
query." Foreign Minister Dos Anjos, clearly eclipsed by Kopelipa
in the meeting, interjected that he was the Minister of Foreign
Affairs and that he would appoint someone to attend meetings with
the envoys.




8. (C) In a separate meeting newly appointed Minister of
Defense Van Dunem highlighted a recurring theme from the Angolans:
instability in the DRC directly affected regional stability,
especially for Angola. Responding to envoy queries, Van Dunem said
Angola has trained 13,000 soldiers (three brigades) and 15,000
police. He said he couldn't vouch for the success of the training
..."I can't say the training has been well taken by the DRC."
Nonetheless, he continued, the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) were
ready to continue the training as long as the political authorities
give the green light. When asked whether training is going well at
the moment, Van Dunem responded that Angola remains willing to do
more training, but "recent events compelled both governments to
clarify all aspects of the relationship, which affected the
training ... we are working to normalize relations to return to the
previous state, which was beneficial to both" ... meaning training
is in fact suspended for now.




9. (C) The Acting Minister of the Interior, Angelo Pavares
Barro Veiga, was more forthright in venting his frustration with
the training, noting that trained police units were subsequently
dispersed. He lamented that some of those trained were in fact
criminals. He questioned the commitment of the DRC leadership to
improve the police service, adding that the international community
"should work together so we can improve the situation in the DRC."




10. (C) During his separate meeting with the envoys, Foreign
Minister Dos Anjos, who clearly was eclipsed by General Kopelipa on
this issue, resorted to giving the envoys quotes from the President
and Kopelipa from meetings earlier in the day. When discussion
turned as to how to start up the small group of African countries
that Dos Santos had envisioned, Dos Anjos "took note" of Wolpe's
suggestion that South Africa and Angola could take the lead in
reaching out to Tanzania and ROC to join the group. On naming an
Angolan envoy to join the group of envoys, Dos Anjos said Angola
"was willing to participate in meetings without restrictions,"
suggesting that Angola might not name an envoy per se, but rather
send representation to meetings of the envoys.




11. (C) COMMENT: Angola's open engagement with the envoys makes
clear that Luanda is serious in wanting to engage with the
international community to help bring peace, security and stability
to the DRC, which Angola's considers its number one foreign policy
concern in the region. The envoys will need to remain engaged with
the GRA to ensure maximum Angolan support for peace in the DRC.
END COMMENT.
MOZENA