VZCZCXRO3531
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0020/01 0081451
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O R 081451Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0015
INFO RWANDA COLLECTIVE
SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000020 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF, DS/IP/ITA, AF/C, INL/AAE, INL/CIV 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC PINS SOCI MASS KCRM INTERPOL CG
SUBJECT: THE CONGOLESE NATIONAL POLICE: UNPAID AND POORLY PAID, BUT 
SIGNS THAT CHANGE MAY COME 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The PNC is a ragtag police force whose members 
receive an average monthly salary of $16.  But the winds of change 
may be blowing.  According to its executive secretary, the PNC has 
developed a 15-year modernization plan and is working with 
international donors to implement it, including as a first step the 
completion of a census of PNC members.  Based on the results of the 
census, police staffing levels will be adjusted to meet the 
nation's needs.  Also anticipated are salary increases and training 
for recruits.  Even with assistance from the international 
community, making the PNC a real police force will be a lengthy and 
arduous process.  End comment. 
 
 
 
How the PNC is organized 
 
------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) The Congolese National Police (Police Nationale Congolaise 
-- PNC) is the national police force of the Democratic Republic of 
Congo (DRC).  The PNC was created on April 22, 1997, after Laurent 
Kabila assumed power.  The organization consists of six 
departments:  the Guard Brigade (Brigade de Garde - protection of 
embassies, government offices, and ministries); Criminal Police; 
the Directorate of Safety and General Information (Direction des 
Renseignements Generaux et Securite -- police investigation, drug 
enforcement, and intelligence); Traffic Police; Quick Reaction 
Police (riot control); and Provincial Inspections (manages all 
police duties).  The PNC is currently under the leadership of 
General John Numbi.  It is estimated that the national police force 
has approximately 150,000 officers.  Since its inception, the PNC 
has been understaffed, underpaid, lacked training, and accused of 
committing human rights violations.  However, the DRC government 
(GDRC) is collaborating with the European Union to institute 
necessary organizational reforms, so the PNC can become a modern 
and professional security force. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Low wages, which are not paid regularly, are one of the 
root causes of the systematic corruption that exists throughout the 
ranks of the PNC.  The average monthly salary of a police officer 
is 16 USD.  Police officers are compelled to harass and "shake 
down" the local population for bribes in order to supplement their 
meager salaries.  This causes the PNC to lose its credibility in 
the eyes of the local citizenry.  Furthermore, the GDRC's lack of a 
reliable salary payment system enables senior echelons of the PNC 
to embezzle officers' salaries.  Paying PNC officers a living wage 
and ensuring that this money ends up in their hands will go a long 
way in professionalizing the organization. 
 
 
 
Lack of training and education 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Lack of training and education for police officers are 
also serious obstacles in the modernization of the PNC.  It is 
estimated that only 25 percent of the police force are graduates of 
local universities.  Many officers cannot read or speak French, and 
can only communicate in Lingala, an African language widely spoken 
in the western DRC.  Also, the PNC does not have an institution or 
program to train its cadets.  Untrained recruits have to purchase 
their uniforms before being given their assignments.  Police 
officers are often seen with corroding weapons or simply empty 
holsters and handcuff holders.  Senior officers are unconcerned 
with the welfare and training of their subordinates, but are more 
interested in the fringe benefits of their status. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The shortcomings of the PNC can be corrected, but it will 
take Congolese leadership, time, patience, and funding.  The GDRC 
has shown signs of commitment to effect changes to its national 
police force.  General Michel Elesse Yombentole, a former member of 
the Congolese military and the PNC's Executive Secretary, informed 
RSO that GDRC has already begun the initial phase of its 15-year 
 
KINSHASA 00000020  002 OF 002 
 
 
plan to transform the organization.  Due to the fact that the GDRC 
does not have an accurate count of its police officers (the number 
fluctuates between 100,000 and 250,000), the first step is to 
conduct a nationwide census.  This will be a long and tedious 
exercise.  The GDRC then plans to increase the size of the police 
force in order to adequately police Africa's third largest country 
(more than 900,000 square miles or roughly equivalent to the U.S. 
east of the Mississippi River). 
 
 
 
Plans for higher wages and more training 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The PNC also hopes that higher wages will attract better 
educated recruits and deter officers from engaging in criminal 
activities.  The Government plans to institute a formal training 
program and upgrade the police equipment inventory.  (Note: The 
Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law 
Enforcement Affairs is in the second year of a police training 
program to develop a border control directorate, and in CY 2010 
will begin a SGBV-sensitization training program for police 
officers.  End note.) 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment:  An effective police force is essential to the 
revitalization of the DRC.  Professionalization, if achieved, would 
have a trickle-down effect on society at large It is therefore 
encouraging to see the GDRC's interest in professionalizing and 
modernizing its police force.  This is particularly true since the 
PNC has been implicated in numerous human rights violations. 
Although many in the Government talk about modernizing the PNC, the 
GDRC has historically placed a higher priority on its military 
rather than its police force, as demonstrated by the fact that the 
PNC's two most senior officers (Numbi and Yombentole) are former 
FARDC generals.  Even with assistance from the international 
community, making the PNC a real police force will be a lengthy and 
arduous process.  End comment. 
GARVELINK