VZCZCXRO7710
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1350/01 3441120
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101120Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7217
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM MOPS PREL PREF KPKO CG
SUBJECT:  Goma Situation Report for December 7, 2007 
 
 
SENSTIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
Note:  The following report was provided by Embassy Kinshasa's 
political officer in Goma.  End note. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The FARDC military offensive has stalled at 
Kibati -- a high point along the track north from Sake -- where 
Nkunda has continued to bring in reinforcements and evidently taken 
a stand.   Speaking to the humanitarian community in North Kivu, 
MONUC Force Commander General Babacar Gaye acknowledged the 
difficulty of balancing MONUC's obligation to protect the civilian 
population with its commitment to give FARDC as much support as 
possible (short of combat).   OCHA and MONUC/Civil Affairs advocate 
moving IDP's in Kirolirwe a short distance east or west, rather than 
their going north to Kitchanga, but as the local populace has 
already moved most of their cattle north, it may be too late to 
prevent a concentration of IDP's at Nkunda's principal town.  End 
Summary. 
 
Military Offensive: Stalled at Kibati 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) MONUC military briefer indicated to poloff December 7 that 
the FARDC had "not had much success" in penetrating through Kibati 
(six miles north of Sake on the track to Kirolirwe and Kitchanga). 
Nkunda, thought to be present at Kibati, had continued to bring up 
reinforcements (another 60 men, to total about 400) and appeared to 
be taking a stand at Kibati.  The terrain there, near the local 
watershed divide, gave Nkunda a greater advantage than he would have 
in the more open terrain further north; it was the best place for 
Nkunda to take a stand.  FARDC has positioned one brigade for the 
attack on Kibati, leaving the other two brigades that had taken part 
in the fighting at Mushaki to consolidate the FARDC's hold there and 
another further west on the Masisi road.  MONUC had helicoptered out 
88 FARDC casualties thus far, and 30-35 Nkunda soldiers were being 
treated at the hospital at Kitchanga.  The Kingi-Kibati area was not 
heavily populated and such population as exists had mostly fled in 
advance of the fighting, but there was still some civilian 
population which would undoubtedly feel the effect of ongoing 
shelling.  There was still no military activity in the Rutshuru 
sector. 
 
General Gaye Speaks to the Humanitarian Community 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) During his December 7 visit to Goma, MONUC Force Commander 
General Babacar Gaye had an hour's question-and-answer session with 
representatives of UN agencies and NGO's in North Kivu.  He opened 
by stressing that it was very difficult for MONUC to balance its 
obligation to protect the civilian population with its commitment to 
give maximum support to FARDC (not including combat) in its present 
campaign against Nkunda.  As in the follow-on press conference, Gaye 
was peppered with questions about MONUC's capability to restrain 
FARDC's proclivity to pillage and loot, to which Gaye responded that 
MONUC could only do its best to stress at every opportunity the 
vital importance of conducting this campaign with minimum harm to 
the civilian population, and he urged the humanitarian community to 
carry the same message to the FARDC commanders in North Kivu.  Gaye 
alluded to an imminent FARDC thrust toward Tongo (ten miles west of 
the Goma-Rutshuru road, on the main corridor of Nkunda's contact 
with his pocket of control on the Uganda-Rwanda border) where, he 
said, it would be equally important for the FARDC to avoid harm to 
the civilian population.  He noted that the initial plan for the 
military campaign was for it to be a 40-day operation, and that the 
performance so far suggested that FARDC was within schedule.  He 
mentioned the possibility of Kirolirwe refugees moving south instead 
of north. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) OCHA said that it had developed an urgent plan, in 
coordination with UNHCR, to try to facilitate the removal of IDP's 
in Kirolirwe a short distance east or west, enough to move them out 
of the path of fighting but not too far from their fields at harvest 
time, when it was going to be impossible for the humanitarian 
community to have access to the area.  What OCHA wanted to avoid was 
the movement of the IDP's and other civilian population at Kirolirwe 
north to the more populous Kitchanga, as it was likely that fighting 
would follow them into Kitchanga and that their presence would 
aggravate the problem of protecting the civilian population of 
Kitchanga.  OCHA discounted the possibility that the IDP's would be 
willing to move south.  WFP expressed concern that it now appeared 
the military campaign would drag out, elongating the period during 
which humanitarian assistance would be difficult to bring to the 
populace, and also noted particular concern about opening a new 
front at Tongo, where the rate of malnutrition was already the 
highest in North Kivu.  UNICEF expressed anxiety about FARDC's 
indiscriminate use of artillery, using ammunition supplied by MONUC. 
 ICRC said it would be present on the scene with a surgical team in 
 
KINSHASA 00001350  002 OF 002 
 
 
Kitchanga and hoped that MONUC's personnel in Kirolirwe and 
Kitchanga would take an active role in protecting any NGO's 
functioning in the zone.  MONUC/Civil Affairs observed that FARDC 
had already resorted to looting in its take-over of Mushaki, but 
that it was essential FARDC maintain a presence in areas taken from 
Nkunda, as it was likely that FDLR and militias would fill any 
vacuum. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In a separate conversation with poloff, MONUC/Civil 
Affairs director Joseph Inganji said that MONUC estimated there were 
a minimum of 30,000 civilians in Kirolirwe, of which there were as 
many as 15,000 IDP's, who were almost entirely Tutsis who had fled 
earlier fighting in Ngungu and Mushaki (mostly women and children, 
the men having joined Nkunda's ranks).  The IDP's were having 
meetings to decide when and whether to flee.  Inganji agreed that 
the best idea was for the civilian population to move a short 
distance east or west, enough to get out of harm's way and 
definitely not go north to Kitchanga.  However, MONUC had learned 
that the local populace had already moved 80 percent of their cattle 
northward, so it seemed likely that they would not heed the advice 
to move east or west.  According to Inganji, Kitchanga is the 
largest community in Nkunda's zone of control, with a population of 
over 80,000 (to include 10,000 IDP's). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Belgian Consul General Hugues Chantry, based in Bukavu but 
visiting Goma, told poloff subsequently that, during a conversation 
with Gaye, Gaye had underscored to him that MONUC would use its 
helicopters and firepower to help FARDC only in the case of debacle. 
 Gaye had commented that the FARDC had "gotten through the easy 
part" and was now entering the tough phase, militarily and 
politically.  North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku had spoken to 
Chantry of a "seven-day campaign."  The FARDC deputy commander Col. 
Delphin Kahimbi had spoken of a "20-day campaign," while Gaye had 
spoken of a 40-day campaign. 
 
Garvelink