VZCZCXRO0998
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0386/01 1201554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291554Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7936
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0039
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000386
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS KPKO CG UN EUN
SUBJECT: GOMA NOTES 04/21/08 - GOMA PROCESS: CNDP HARDLINERS ATTEMPT
TO LINK GOMA AND NAIROBI
1. (SBU) Summary. The CNDP clung to hardline arguments April 18-19
linking the proposed calendar of activities for the Amani Program
Joint Technical Committee on Peace and Security (CTMPS) to progress
against the FDLR, but a weekend of pushing by National Coordinator
Apollinaire Malumalu and the International Facilitation led to a
compromise. This was derailed at the April 21 plenary by a surprise
FRF move to insert language from the Acte d'Engagement. The CNDP
position appears to reflect continuing fears of Tutsi massacres at
the hands of FDLR if disengagement begins too soon. End summary.
Saturday scramble
-----------------
2. (SBU) The April 19 plenary session of the Goma process Joint
Technical Committee on Peace and Security (CTMPS) continued the
business of adopting its proposed calendar of activities, with
amendments, for a second day. The working group's suggestions on a
date for a public awareness campaign drew no objections, but the
draft included a qualification, advocated by CNDP, that subordinated
disengagement to verifiable progress in the Nairobi process.
3. (SBU) Knowing that this language was unacceptable to the GDRC,
both Amani National Coordinator Apollinaire Malumalu and the
International Facilitation had worked April 18 to find common ground
with CNDP. By the morning of April 19 it was clear CNDP
representatives had retreated to Nkunda's headquarters in Kiroliwe
and received instructions to raise the linkage issue at the plenary
at the first opportunity, and not let it go. The session foundered
quickly. Co-chairman Vice Admiral Didier Etumba adjourned the
meeting and asked the Facilitation to seek a way forward with CNDP.
That meeting was scheduled for Monday April 21.
4. (SBU) Nkunda extended an invitation to EUSEC Lieutenant Colonel
Jean-Luc Covolan, a skillful negotiator representing the EU, to
spend Saturday night at Kirolirwe. After many hours, Colovan
persuaded Nkunda and his staff to drop their linkage position. A/S
Frazer's Senior Adviser Tim Shortley was also in telephone contact
with Nkunda. By the end of the weekend it appeared CNDP had agreed
to return to Goma with a revised position that did not include
formal linkage between progress under Nairobi and Goma.
Monday mess
-----------
5. (SBU) At the April 21 plenary, Etumba invited Colovan to explain
the outcome of his negotiations with Nkunda. Indicating that a
compromise had been reached that did not include "conditionality,"
Colovan gave CNDP the floor.
6. (SBU) CNDP delegates first recited some ritual points: CNDP
assures the Committee that it is committed to peace; CNDP asks the
Committee to remember that the group is emerging from a war and
still has enemies; CNDP is committed to the Goma process; CNDP
acknowledges the Facilitation's help during the week past.
7. (SBU) CNDP then tabled new language, which replaced the previous,
objectionable mention of progress against the FDLR before
disengagement would begin. They proposed that the CTMPS should
require information on the progress of Nairobi implementation and
continuously evaluate and verify the status of the DDRRR of foreign
armed groups.
8. (SBU) At this point the FRF proposed adding a third bullet,
essentially repeating language from the Acte d'Engagement, thus
adding something already agreed to. The meeting then deteriorated.
Etumba accused the FRF of insulting the elected government and the
FARDC, and of intimating that the FARDC were in collaboration with
the FDLR. South Kivu Mai-Mai representatives joined in, denouncing
a CNDP-FRF plot to re-introduce Nairobi-linked conditionality in a
disguised form. Some proposed going back to South Kivu immediately.
9. (SBU) The MONUC co-chair asked for a five-minute break. CNDP
participants were visibly amused. For the balance of the day,
Committee members negotiated among themselves without benefit of
moderation by Etumba or the Facilitation.
Comment
-------
10. (SBU) Malumalu and others say that there are divisions in CNDP,
and that the military members, who espouse a hard line, are
currently dominant. CNDP had been giving us this harder line in
private for several weeks. They appear to have wanted to go public
KINSHASA 00000386 002 OF 002
and did not mind stopping the CTMPS dead in its tracks. CNDP and
other sources report that CNDP believes the Tutsi population is
under imminent threat, that disengagement will expose Tutsis to
risks of massacres by PARECO and FDLR, and that CNDP ought not to
participate in substantive implementation of, or even planning for,
Goma until Nairobi is on the road to implementation, preferably with
CNDP operational help. End comment.