VZCZCXRO7796
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0136/01 0361145
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051145Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5543
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000136 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV CASC MOPS KPKO ASEC PHUM CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: BAS-CONGO CALM, CALL FOR GENERAL STRIKE IN 
KINSHASA UNSUCCESSFUL 
 
REF: KINSHASA 134 
 
¶1.  Summary. There were no reports of further violence in the 
DRC province of Bas-Congo following clashes January 
31-February 1 between militant ethnic separatists and 
Congolese security forces.  The death toll is close to 100, 
predominately civilians.  Casualties were significantly 
higher in the ports of Muanda and Boma, where the military 
was called in to restore order.  SRSG Swing expressed concern 
about the violence, noting that it threatened future MONUC 
cooperation with the Congolese military.  A call by 
Jean-Pierre Bemba for a "day of mourning" (likely interpreted 
to mean a general strike) in Kinshasa on February 5 fell on 
deaf ears.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) No further incidents have been reported in the 
western province of Bas-Congo following 24 hours of violence 
January 31-February 1 between Congolese security forces and 
adherents of the ethnic Kongo separatist group Bundu dia 
Kongo (BDK) (reftel).  The incidents stemmed from the group's 
dissatisfaction with the results of the January 27 
gubernatorial vote, in which its leader was defeated for the 
position of vice governor.  The violence did not 
significantly affect operation of the province's economic 
centers, its ports in Matadi, Boma and Muanda. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Business has returned to normal, but with a 
stronger security presence in the province's major towns. 
MONUC has dispatched security reinforcements, with 18 armed 
Bangladeshi policemen and 78 Ghanaian soldiers arriving 
February 3 in Matadi and 103 Uruguayan troops setting out the 
following day for Muanda.  MONUC also announced a joint 
mission to assess the security and humanitarian situation, 
which is expected to depart February 5 or 6 for approximately 
a week, according to MONUC's political office. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Interior Minister Denis Kalume announced February 3 
a total of 97 fatalities.  The dead are predominately 
civilian:  16 at Matadi, 26 at Boma, 37 at Muanda and 8 at 
Songololo.  Six are police, four military.  The number is 
expected to rise, since many of the wounded are gunshot 
victims.  A MONUC political officer told us February 3 that 
the UN's estimate is closer to 130, based on information 
derived from military as well as police sources. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Details of the February 2 fighting point to 
particularly ferocious clashes in Boma and Muanda.  A 
representative of a children's rights group in Muanda told 
AFP that BDK militants there had rampaged through the streets 
and set fire to a police station and several government 
buildings.  He reported Congolese troops called in from a 
nearby base used automatic weapons and rockets in attempting 
to restore order.  Another resident of Muanda contacted by 
the Embassy said that militants attacked police guarding 
public buildings and seized their weapons.  The army also was 
called in at Boma, where militants decapitated a policeman 
and set vehicles ablaze. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) By contrast, most of the casualties in the 
provincial capital of Matadi resulted from the January 31 
confrontation between police and BKD adherents during an 
attempt by the current governor of the province to confiscate 
weapons at a Matadi residence.  According to a MONUC's Matadi 
press office, the police turned up some 100 machetes.  As 
many as a dozen civilians were killed.  The February 1 
violence in the capital was confined to the eastern side of 
the city. 
 
¶7.  (U) MONUC released a February 3 statement calling for 
calm, and SYSG Swing expressed concern in a Reuters interview 
about human rights abuses by Congolese security forces, 
specifically including both the army and police.  He said it 
would be difficult for the UN to work with the Congolese army 
in the future if they continued to commit such violations. 
"During the three-year transition, we never had anything like 
this.  What we had in Bas-Congo is very different from 
anything we had during the transition," Swing told Reuters. 
 
¶8.  (U) Defeated presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba, 
whose party has strong BDK support, called February 2 for a 
half-day of mourning in Kinshasa on February 5.  His call was 
widely interpreted to mean general strike ("ville morte"). 
Interior Minister Kalume came out strongly against a general 
strike, reminding Kinshasa residents repeatedly in 
nationally-broadcast messages February 2-3 that such strikes 
 
KINSHASA 00000136  002 OF 002 
 
 
in the early 1990s resulted in looting, violence and 
instability, as well as the failure of nascent 
democratization at the time of the Sovereign National 
Conference.  Bemba and his supporters clarified that they 
were calling for a half-day of national mourning in memory of 
the Bas-Congo victims.  In any case, activity in Kinshasa on 
February 5 has been normal with businesses, government 
offices, schools and transport operating as usual. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment.  Both Kalume and BDK leader Ne Muanda 
Nsemi have appealed for Bas-Congo residents to follow legal 
means of recourse regarding the gubernatorial election 
result.  A decision is expected February 8 on an appeal to 
the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) by Bemba's MLC. 
The situation is calm for now, but could again deterioate if 
the CEI upholds the vote which resulted in its leader's 
defeat.  End comment. 
MEECE