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C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000619 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2017 
TAGS: DRC PREL UNSC PGOV ETTC
SUBJECT: UN/DRC SANCTIONS: UNANIMOUS COUNCIL SUPPORT FOR 
RENEWED SANCTIONS IN DRC 
 
 
Classified By: COUNSELOR MARY C. PHEE, FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Peruvian PermRep Jorge Voto-Bernales, who 
is the chairman of the DRC Sanctions Committee ("the 
Committee"), briefed the Security Council on June 23 on the 
occasion of the Committee's annual sanctions review.  There 
was Council consensus that the sanctions regime--which 
consists of an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on 
individuals violating the embargo, recruiting child soldiers, 
or impeding disarmament, and which expires on July 31--should 
be renewed.  Voto-Bernales reported to the Council that the 
Committee had considered the latest report of the DRC Group 
of Experts, which found that the continued presence of 
illegal armed groups in the DRC represented a serious threat 
to stability in the region, and that the sanctions on 
individuals were rarely enforced by DRC authorities.  Council 
members are currently negotiating a French draft resolution 
to renew the sanctions regime and the mandate of the Group of 
Experts, which also expires on July 31. End summary. 
 
-------------------- 
DRC SANCTIONS REVIEW 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) In advance of the July 31 expiration of the sanctions 
regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peruvian 
PermRep and Chairman of the DRC Sanctions Committee Jorge 
Voto-Bernales briefed the Council on June 23 on the outcome 
of the Committee's annual sanctions review.  Ambassador 
Voto-Bernales noted that several Committee members had stated 
their support for renewing sanctions, and that the Committee 
had agreed on possible actions to improve their 
implementation based recommendations from the DRC Group of 
Experts (&the Group8), the body charged with investigating 
sanctions violations.  Ambassador Voto-Bernales also reported 
that the Committee had designated two additional individuals 
and five entities for sanctions in March (note: on the joint 
initiative of USUN, the UK, and France) and had met with 
representatives of the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi on 
issues of implementation in those countries. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Following Ambassador Voto-Bernales's briefing, the 
French delegation expressed concern that illegal armed groups 
continue to traffic in arms, and noted the increasing risk of 
widespread conflict in the region.  The French also 
introduced a draft resolution to renew the sanctions--which 
consist of an arms embargo and an international travel ban 
and assets freeze on individuals found to be violating the 
embargo, recruiting child soldiers, or impeding 
disarmament--and the mandate of the Group of Experts, which 
also expires on July 31.  The draft is currently under 
negotiation by Council members.  Belgium stated that 
maintaining the sanctions was important for the future of 
Congo, and that it supported clarifying in the upcoming 
resolution the exemptions to arms embargo for the Government 
of the DRC.  USUN noted its concern with the deteriorating 
security situation in the DRC and stressed that the Sanctions 
Committee had a specific role to play in bringing pressure to 
bear on those individuals whose actions undermine stability 
in the DRC.  Italy argued that the sanctions regime in the 
DRC illustrated that sanctions work only where states have 
the capacity to implement them, and also that the Council 
should reassess the sanctions regime in light of the newly 
elected government in the DRC.  Italy added, however, that it 
hoped that the sanctions against recruiting child soldiers 
would be maintained. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
BACKGROUND: COMMITTEE CONSIDERS THE GROUP'S REPORT 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) On July 12 and 20 the Committee considered the 
Group's June 13 report, which concluded--as did its two 
previous reports--that the continued presence of illegal 
armed groups in the DRC represented a serious threat to 
stability in the region.  The report noted that the sanctions 
imposed in March on two major gold exporting companies in 
Uganda found to be financing militias, UCI and Machanga, were 
successful in halting their operations.  However, it also 
found that the international travel ban and an assets freeze 
sanctions on those individuals designated by the Committee 
were rarely enforced by DRC authorities, and sanctioned 
individuals continued their daily activities with impunity. 
 
¶5.  (C) Although the Committee did agree on possible actions 
to improve sanctions implementation based on the Group's 
 
 
recommendations, Committee members overwhelmingly considered 
the specific recommendations to be beyond the competence of 
the Committee to implement.  For example, the Group suggested 
that the most effective way to address aerial violations of 
the arms embargo would be to restructure the DRC aviation 
sector.  (USUN noted that this was a long-term 
capacity-building endeavor that far exceeded the Committee's 
ability to act upon.)  The actions the Committee agreed to 
therefore consisted mainly of taking note of the 
recommendations or referring them for comment to the 
international bodies competent to assess their usefulness. 
 
¶6. (C) USUN stressed that the Committee did not have a 
mandate to develop capacity in the DRC, and it must now turn 
its attention back to the core of its mandate, which was 
considering violations of the arms embargo and imposing 
sanctions accordingly.  The past two reports of the Group of 
Experts have been heavily focused on addressing the 
underlying causes of the instability in eastern DRC, which 
has made that their recommendations of marginal use to the 
Committee in sanctioning specific individuals. 
KHALILZAD