VZCZCXRO6031
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0008/01 0071251
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071251Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7331
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000008 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS PHUM PREF KPKO CG
SUBJECT:    Kivus Conference opens in Goma without Kabila; 
            many Tutsis appointed to senior positions 
 
REF:     Kinshasa 0005 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The ceremonial opening on January 6 of the 
projected week-long Conference on North and South Kivu (reftel) kept 
to a positive script.  Absent at the opening ceremony was President 
Joseph Kabila; he did now show, it is believed, because of security 
concerns.  After gaining security assurances from a reluctant MONUC, 
a delegation from Nkunda's CNDP did attend.  Leadership positions in 
the Conference are widely distributed among ethnicities, with Tutsis 
getting more than their population in itself would seem to justify. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Conference on Peace, Security, and Development for the 
Kivus got underway January 6 in Goma in a relatively positive spirit 
and with relatively few glitches, considering the monumental 
difficulties of organizing a huge conference (800 attendees) in such 
a chaotic city in cramped facilities.  President Kabila was expected 
to give the principal address but, apparently at the last minute, 
decided not to fly from Lumbumbashi to Goma, handing responsibility 
for delivering the speech to Denis Kalume Numbi, Minister of State 
for the Interior, Decentralization, and Security.  A government 
security officer informed ARSO that Kabila had decided that security 
at the conference site was simply too inadequate.  Most of the 
senior diplomatic corps was flown in on MONUC aircraft to attend the 
event, and were made to wait two hours for it to commence. 
 
Tutsis are well represented 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Conference organizers made a considerable effort to ensure 
Tutsi involvement among the 20 leaders designated for the conference 
(see para 8 below for full list) and to ensure ethnic balance, but 
no ethnic group is likely to be satisfied with its representation. 
The most important positions within the conference are the so-called 
Executive Board ("Bureau" in French) with seven members, of whom two 
are Tutsi; the "Committee of Experts" ("Commission des Sages"), with 
seven members, of whom two are Tutsi; and the "Panel of Moderators," 
of which three are Tutsi.  The four Tutsis in the first two bodies 
are close to Nkunda, while the three Tutsi moderators include RCD 
head Azarias Ruberwa and two of his Banyamulenge allies from South 
Kivu.  Hutus received relatively little representation. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) A 10-person delegation from Nkunda's party CNDP attended 
the opening session and was seated not in the principal conference 
room into which 400 attendees were squeezed, but in an ancillary 
hall where the speeches were televised.  Getting the CNDP delegation 
into the conference was the last major hurdle that MONUC had to 
confront, working till late the previous night.  The CNDP insisted 
that MONUC provide its security, while MONUC insisted that security 
for the CNDP team was a government function (Note:  MONUC wished to 
avoid being accused of being soft on Nkunda).  In the end, MONUC 
acquiesced. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) After long prayers, there were four speeches.  The 
Governor of North Kivu (a Nande from the "Grand Nord") opened with a 
short address, sticking to platitudes, refraining from his normal 
invective against Nkunda and merely condemning of "all those who 
wreak havoc on innocent citizens."  The conference president, 
Apollinaire Malu Malu (also a Nande), a Catholic priest who heads 
the Congo's Independent Electoral Commission, reviewed what he 
described as the organizers' considerable efforts to visit and 
include all sections of the Kivus (they had, he said, only failed to 
visit Masisi Territory).  The mission of the Conference was not to 
have a talk fest, nor to usurp powers of the executive, legislature, 
or judiciary as enshrined in the Constitution and the election of 
2006, but to find a practical, reconciliatory way forward out of the 
conflicts that beset the Kivus, to instill a culture of peace 
instead of violence and to strengthen democracy. 
 
Swing's Swan Song 
----------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) SRSG William Swing, in his last public address in Congo 
(he departs the DRC January 8 at the end of his mandate), emphasized 
how far the country had come in the past five years, "miraculously 
and irreversibly far."  The conference had an historic 
responsibility to get rid of deep-rooted stereotypes and consolidate 
the remarkable progress that had been made; the international 
community would continue to give Congo its full encouragement. 
Kabila's speech, delivered by the Minister of Interior, emphasized 
that the conference must work to enhance the strength of the state 
and rule of law.  Forces operating outside the state must be 
demobilized and integrated into the army, as called for in the 
Nairobi communique.  Congo was a country of diverse ethnicities; 
protection of minorities was a fundamental requirement.  Congo was a 
 
KINSHASA 00000008  002 OF 002 
 
 
country of great natural wealth; pillage of its natural resources 
had to be stopped.  Congo was surrounded by nine neighbors and would 
pursue peaceful existence with all of them.  There were high 
expectations of this conference which, if it did its work well, 
could go far toward ensuring durable peace. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The conference is scheduled to work in plenary January 7 
(covering accreditation and technical matters), have simultaneous 
workshops for North and South Kivu January 8, move to separate 
workshops for North and South Kivu January 9-11, reconvene in 
simultaneous workshops January 12 and a plenary January 13, and 
close on January 14. 
 
List of Conference Officers 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8.  Principal leadership positions in the conference (with 
ethnicities to be confirmed): 
 
Executive Board: 
-- President: Fr. Apollinaire Malu Malu (Nande, Grand 
   Nord) 
-- First Vice President: Senator (Monseigneur) Jean-Luc 
   Kuye Ndondo (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
-- Second Vice President: Emmanuel Kamanzi (Tutsi, Goma) 
-- General Rapporteur: Hon. Sekimonyo wa Magungu (Hutu, 
   Rutshuru) 
-- First Assistant Rapporteur: Boniface Balamage Nkolo 
   (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
-- Second Assistant Rapporteur: Azil Tanzi (Tutsi, 
   Orientale) 
-- Questeur: Hangi Binini (Hunde, Masisi) 
-- Assistant Questeur: Benjamin Mukulungu (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
 
Committee of Experts: 
-- President and Spokesman: Hon. Vital Kamerhe (Mushi, S. 
   Kivu) 
-- First Vice President: Denis Ntare Semadwinga (Tutsi, N. 
   Kivu) 
-- Second Vice President: Pardonne Kaliba (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
   Rapporteur: Basengezi Katintima (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
-- First Assistant Rapporteur: Safi Adili (Tutsi, N. Kivu) 
-- Second Assistant Rapporteur: Pasteur Mushunganya Nene 
   (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
-- Third Assistant Rapporteur: Philemon Balinabo (Hunde, 
   Masisi) 
 
Moderators: 
-- Fr. Apollinaire Malu Malu (see also Bureau) 
-- Azarias Ruberwa Manyua (Tutsi Banyamulenge, S. Kivu) 
-- Vital Kamerhe (see also Committee of Experts) 
-- Foreign Minister Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi (Nande, Grand 
   Nord) 
-- Mashako Mamba (Hutu, Rutshuru) 
-- Jean Kevin Jemsi Mulengwa (Mushi, S. Kivu) 
-- Joseph Gwamuhanya (Tutsi Banyamulenge, S. Kivu) 
-- Bizima Karaha (Tutsi Banyamulenge, S. Kivu) 
Garvelink