VZCZCXRO0654
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0170 0491118
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181118Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7549
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
UNCLAS KINSHASA 000170
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM MOPS PREL KPKO CG
SUBJECT: MONUC peacekeepers arrest CNDP "police" following incident
near Virunga National Park
1. MONUC peacekeepers came under fire from CNDP "police" February 15
in Tongo, 50 kilometers north of Goma. They disarmed them, and
found two bodies villagers said the police had executed. No
peacekeepers were killed.
2. The incident began mid-afternoon when South African peacekeepers
based at MONUC's mobile operating base at Tongo, in Rutshuru
territory about 50 km north of Goma, heard shooting and sent out a
patrol. Members of the patrol saw people running towards the UN
compound followed by CNDP police escorting a prisoner. After being
ordered to stop, the police fired on the MONUC troops who returned
fire, then disarmed and arrested them.
3. The patrol continued to the site where the original shots were
fired in the nearby village of Rushoro, and found two dead bodies,
one that of a child. The police admitted to killing two people,
claiming they were Mayi-Mayi in civilian clothes. World Food
Program and Mercy Corps representatives who arrived in the village
before the patrol said villagers had told them CNDP had executed the
two after robbing them.
4. MONUC did not get out a press release about the incident until
the following day. SRSC chief of staff John Almstrom told
international facilitators February this was due to conflicting
reports, including one which indicated a ceasefire violation between
CNDP and the PARECO Mayi-Mayi group, and another which suggested
that the CNDP had fired on a humanitarian convoy -- something that
was not true.
5. Comment: This is yet another example of the continued human
rights violations that plague this part of North Kivu, which is a
key point on the CNDP's main resupply route through Virunga National
Park. End comment.
GARVELINK