INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Un Deputy Secretary General Follows Boss In

Published: Thu 26 Apr 2007 03:15 PM
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P 261515Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6035
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS KINSHASA 000477
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SENSITIVE
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KPKO KDEM CG
SUBJECT: UN DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL FOLLOWS BOSS IN
VISITING DRC ON FIRST OFFICIAL TRIP
REF: KINSHASA 105
1. (U) Asha-Rose Migiro, newly appointed United Nations (UN)
Deputy Secretary-General, followed the example set by
Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-Moon (reftel) in making the DRC
SIPDIS
one of the stops on her first official trip since assuming
the position. She met with President Joseph Kabila, Prime
Minister Antoine Gizenga, Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi,
Justice Minister Minsay Booka, Independent Electoral
Commission President Apollinaire Malu Malu, and National
Assembly deputies during a three-day trip beginning April 22.
She spent April 25 in Brazzaville with UNDP representatives
before departing from Kinshasa that night.
2. (U) In a press statement, Migiro said she had traveled to
the DRC "to carry a special message from the Secretary
General to the President." That message was a pledge of
continued UN support to the Congolese government. Migiro
said Kabila was "resolved to continue the democratization
process in the country." Gizenga said he appreciated
Migiro's message and "thanked the UN for its involvement in
the Congo from the 1960s up to now." Tanzanian Migiro also
expressed pride "as an African daughter" at the free and fair
DRC elections held last year and the efforts of the National
Assembly to strengthen democracy in the DRC.
3. (SBU) There was little made public from the Kabila
meeting, but Kabila reportedly expressed disappointment over
aspects of international community support, including that of
MONUC, to do enough in the security sector area. Like
similar meetings held with British Cooperation Minister
Hilary Benn, and earlier with Belgian FM De Gucht, the tone
of at least a portion of the meeting appeared to reflect
current presidency disenchantment with the international
community generally.
4. (SBU) Comment: Migiro's visit, like that of SG Ban in
January, was a sign of UN commitment to its largest
peacekeeping mission. It was intended to send a strong
signal both of the international community's support of the
DRC, and of its concern that government needs to take
immediate concrete action to establish a democratic culture,
deal with its economic crisis, build infrastructure and
public services, and reform the security sector.
5. (SBU) Comment continued: The Kabila unhappiness with the
international community seems to stem from clear resentment
over criticism directed toward the government arising from
the March 21-22 military clashes in Kinshasa, supplemented by
past unhappiness with the International Committee to
Accompany the Transition (CIAT) and an apparent general sense
that the new Congolese government is not getting just respect
or support following successful 2006 elections. End comment.
MEECE
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