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Cablegate: June 19 Meeting of Steering Groups for Amani Agreements,

Published: Wed 25 Jun 2008 02:30 PM
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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251430Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8159
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 4815
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000553
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS KPKO CG RW UN
SUBJECT: JUNE 19 MEETING OF STEERING GROUPS FOR AMANI AGREEMENTS,
NAIRTOBI COMMUNIQUE
1. A joint meeting of the steering committees for the "Amani
Process" (or Amani Program), and the "Nairobi Process' met in
Kinshasa June 19 at the Ministry of the Interior. The meeting was
chaired by Interior Minster Denis Kalume. Presenting an update on
the Amani Process was its coordinator, Father Apolinnaire Malumalu;
the "Nairobi Process" spokesperson was Roving Ambassador Seraphin
Ngwej, an advisor to President Kabila. Other prominent attendees
included the Ministers of Social Affairs (Jean-Claude Muyambo) and
of Planning (Olivier Kamitatu). The senior GDRC military official
was Vice-Admiral Didier Etumba, who serves on the Amani Process'
Mixed Technical Commission on Peace and Security. Foreign attendees
were from the UN (SRSG Alan Doss), the EU (represented by the
ambassador of France), the EU Commission (represented by its
delegate to the DRC), Tanzania (ambassador) and the United States
(DCM). An unofficial translation of the communique describing the
meeting, signed June 19 but not distributed until June 23, is
contained at para 5.
2. The long (almost three hours) meeting was largely uneventful,
with each spokesman going over developments pertaining to his
respective process. The ministers of humanitarian affairs and of
planning did not speak. The most salient facts gleaned from the
presentations by the spokespersons for each process are: (1) the
Amani process appears to have run out of steam due to a lack of
resources and waning interest by key parties in moving forward
towards demobilization and other goals; and (2) the GDRC sees little
enthusiasm at the local level to receive and resettle former FDLR
forces. Emphasis, Ngwej stated, should be given to pushing first
for FDLR repatriation to Rwanda while holding out resettlement as a
limited option for only a few individuals. Ngwej handed out a
proposed budget for the repatriation/relocation plan (see para 4).
3. A potentially controversial scene unfolded when, at SRSG's Doss'
request, retired Canadian lieutenant general Marc Caron outlined a
four-phase MONUC plan for a possible integration ("brassage") of
forces loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda. Vice-admiral
Etumba responded vigorously that such plans were not welcome because
it was the Ministry of Defense, and only the Ministry of Defense,
that should deal with such matters. Kalume and Malumalu politely
thanked both Caron and Etumba but did not make substantive comments.
4. A number of documents handed out at the meeting were scanned and
sent to the Department via e-mail on June 19. These include: (1)
the "brassage" plans outlined by General Caron; (2) the proposed
operational budget for the FDLR's repatriation/relocation; and (3)
the minutes of the Amani Process Steering Committee's previous
meeting on March 25, 2008.
5. Following is embassy's unofficial translation of the communique
of the June 19 meeting.
COMMUNIQUE
Unofficial translation
The Steering Committees of the Amani Program and for the
implementation of the Nairobi Communique met in joint session in
Kinshasa on June 19 under the chairmanship of Minister of State for
the Interior, Decentralization and Security, and in the presence of
members of the Government or their representatives, as well as
members of the International Facilitation group for these two
committees, to wit the United Nations, the African Union, the
European Union and the United States.
The Amani Program Monitoring Committee delegation presented a
report on the status of the work of the different Commissions,
particularly the Mixed Technical Commission of the Commission on
Peace and Security (CMPTS), specifically the adoption of internal
rules, the calendar of activities, the public awareness campaign
agreed to by the signatories to the Goma Accords, the setting up of
sub-committees and technical structures, as well as the imminent
launching of the work of provincial coordination teams. The
Monitoring Committee also outlined certain problems of diverse
origin and announced the formulation of an Operational Plan for the
entire program.
The delegation for the Nairobi Communique presented the Operational
Plan formulated after the pertinent resolutions of the Kinsangani
Conference. The Plan includes continued public awareness campaigns,
bringing together elements of armed foreign groups, to begin with
the RUD/Urunana faction, with a view to their repatriation or their
temporary relocation. The presentation ended with an appeal for
national and international support for this process, which is
entering into its operational phase.
KINSHASA 00000553 002 OF 002
Based on the above-mentioned evaluations, the following was
revealed:
-- There is a lack of respect by several members of the Mixed
Technical Committee of the texts they themselves drafted and
signed;
-- Economic plunder continues;
-- There is a flow of IDP's following repeated confrontations;
-- There are new recruitments into the ranks of armed groups;
-- There are unending rapes and other human rights violations in
localities occupied by certain parties that are signatories to the
"Actes d'engagement" (Goma agreements);
-- ID documents of local populations are confiscated and destroyed;
Based on the preceding, the Steering Committees have decided
that:
-- The Steering Committees request the formulation of a scheme of
integration covering both processes, based on concepts and work that
already exist, with clearly established phases and tasks that are
well defined for the different parties, both national and
international;
-- The Committees strongly condemn the continuation of
confrontations between armed groups and the use of violence of by
these groups against civilian populations; they (the Committees) put
on notice armed groups that do not respect their commitments and
international human law;
-- The Committees denounce the plundering of natural resources and
the illegal taxation and extortion in return for the movement of
persons, including border controls by an armed group;
-- The Committees denounce impunity and urge Congolese authorities
to commit to strengthening, with support from the international
community, law enforcement actions in the east of the country in
order to combat crime and illegal practices;
-- The Committees remind (armed groups) of the formal prohibition of
any new recruitment into the ranks of armed groups and encourage the
Mixed Technical Commission for Peace and Security, as well as
Monitoring Committee for the Nairobi Communique to rigorously carry
out their duties with a view to the improvement of the situation on
the ground;
-- The Committees agree, via their members, to mobilize resources to
assure the financing of projects and to respond effectively to the
humanitarian crisis in the east of the country.
Signed in Kinshasa, 19 June 2008
Denis KALUME NUMBI
President of the Steering Committee of the Amani Program
End embassy translation of Communique
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