VZCZCXRO3564
PP RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0290/01 0721029
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 131029Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5749
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000290 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS EMINCG AG CG
SUBJECT: CONGOLESE AND ANGOLAN MINISTERS TO ATTEMPT 
RESOLUTION TO REMOTE BORDER DISPUTE 
 
 
Classified By: PolCouns DBrown, reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Senior Congolese and Angolan officials plan 
to meet in Kinshasa this week to discuss a disputed frontier 
in a remote diamond-bearing area at the intersection of the 
provinces of Bandundu in the DRC and Lunda Norte in Angola. 
Angolan troops reportedly entered the area on January 29, and 
Congolese government officials profess shock to learn that 
the Angolans claim the land as their own.  The dispute 
centers on differences between surveys conducted in the 1880s 
and 1970s.  Both sides say they are committed to a bilateral 
solution, and have been attempting to avoid any suggestion of 
trouble between the two allies.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) A high-level delegation reportedly led by the Angolan 
foreign and interior ministers is expected in Kinshasa March 
13 for talks aimed at resolving a border dispute between the 
two countries.  The issue has been an object of public 
concern in Kinshasa since February 19, when Interior Minister 
Denis Kalume reported an "incursion" into a remote area of 
Bandundu province's Kahemba territory by Angolan forces.  The 
incident, although the subject of indignant and nationalist 
protests in the Congolese media, has received little 
attention in the international press. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The planned meeting follows findings by a joint 
Congolese-Angolan commission led by the governors of Bandundu 
(DRC) and Lunda Norte (Angola) which visited the area March 
2-5.  According to a March 10 public statement by Congolese 
National Assembly deputies native to the region, the 
commission confirmed the presence of Angolan forces in the 
area and reported the local population had fled.  The same 
report claimed the troops moved into the area during the 
night of January 29.  The Angolan Embassy in Kinshasa has 
consistently denied that there are any Angolan troops in DRC 
territory. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The object of the dispute is a sliver of land 
located along the Kakamba River near the 7th parallel about 
10 km deep into territory shown on DRC maps as Congolese, 
some 400 km south of Kikwit, the administrative center of 
Bandundu's Kwango district.  Congolese members of the joint 
commission professed shock to discover that the Angolans 
claimed the land as their own.  The deputies' statement 
reported that it encompasses 11 villaes, named as 
Shakadiate, Shahono, Hsahingi, Kabegele, Shamufua, 
Kambanguazi, Tshakala, Shayimbwana, Shahid, Kalumbandi and 
Shashindingi.  Nationa Assembly Second Vice President Marc 
Mvwamba, a ative of Bandundu, was informed of the Angolan 
caim by telephone during a dicussion with PolOffs March 6, 
and cut the meeting short for an emergency meeting with 
Bandundu deputies.  He claimed the Angolan forces had brought 
tanks with them, raised the Angolan flag and constructed a 
helicopter landing facility.  The deputies' statement 
similarly noted the presence of "heavy arms," the flag and a 
helicopter pad. 
 
¶5.  (C) Both governments are mustering historical and 
technical sources to back their claims.  Minister Godefroid 
Mayobo, Prime Minister Gizenga's chief of staff, told 
PolCouns February 26 that the government was reviewing 
colonial-era documents from the Belgian and Portuguese 
administrations to clarify the frontier.  A Congolese 
politician told PolAsst that Angolan experts on the joint 
commission came equipped with maps and technical equipment to 
support their claim.  News reports indicate Congolese experts 
returned to the area March 8 with additional documentation 
from geographic institute archives. 
 
¶6.  (C) Congolese officials believe the crux of the matter is 
a set of survey markers placed in the area in the 1970s by a 
team, apparently employed by an unnamed American firm, 
working from the Angolan side of the border.  A close 
associate of Prime Minister Gizenga told PolCouns March 10 
that the firm's surveyors marked out an area for potential 
mineral exploitation that straddled both sides of the river, 
which the DRC regards as the border.  He said that the 
Angolan government claims that markers delineate the 
frontier; the Congolese position is that a series of 
geographic monuments erected during the colonial era mark the 
true border.  Some of this information has appeared piecemeal 
in the media:  the survey appears to have taken place in 1972 
and the current dispute centers on location of a single 
monument dating from 1885. 
 
¶7.  (C) Both sides clearly want to resolve the issue 
 
KINSHASA 00000290  002 OF 002 
 
 
bilaterally and avoid any adverse effects on 
Angolan-Congolese relations.  MONUC's acting political 
adviser told PolCouns March 6 that the Angolan Charge had 
told him his government was committed to a bilateral 
solution, and was not contemplating action at the 
International Court of Justice.  Defense Minister Chikez 
Diemu emphasized to the Ambassador March 8 that the presence 
of the Angolan troops was a serious matter, but neither he 
nor Interior Minister Kalume, both of whom are close to 
President Kabila, are saying so in public.  The Gizenga 
adviser said that the prime minister, a native of Gungu 
Territory north of Kahenbe and with ethnic ties on both sides 
of the border, was concerned about the situation.  He hoped 
that resolution would not only address the current dispute 
but also facilitate exchanges among members of communities 
separated by national frontiers. 
 
¶8.  (C) Comment:  The Ambassador, along with other diplomatic 
colleagues, has stressed that the DRC would be well served to 
find a negotiated, peaceful bilateral solution to this 
dispute, or should that prove difficult, as a last resort 
have recourse to the International Court of Justice or other 
arbitration mechanism.  The fact that the area may hold 
significant diamond deposits is likely relevant to the 
dispute.  Relations between Luanda and Kinshasa have been 
very good ever since Angolan forces intervened on behalf of 
the Laurent Kabila government in 1996 to prevent the fall of 
Kinshasa, and both capitals have reason to maintain good 
relations.  The Kabila government is taking care to avoid any 
condemnation of Angola.  (Congolese Information Minister 
Toussaint Tshilombo even went so far as to claim to the Voice 
of America March 8 that the Angolan troops were tracking 
Cabindan separatists, in an area hundreds of miles from the 
enclave and with no discernible transport or ethnic links to 
it.)  The hope on both sides is that a satisfactory 
resolution to the issue can be reached during the visit to 
Kinshasa by the Angolan delegation.  End comment. 
MEECE