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 LUANDA 00000079 002 OF 003 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 LUANDA 00000079 003 OF 003 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