VZCZCXRO0333
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0383/01 1200625
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290625Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7930
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KINSHASA 000383 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KPKO KJUS SOCI PINR CG RW UN
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR WILLIAMSON GAINS CONGOLESE SUPPORT FOR 
NEW REWARDS FOR JUSTICE PROGRAM 
 
REF: A. 07 KINSHASA 919 
     ¶B. KINSHASA 190 
     ¶C. KINSHASA 218 
     ¶D. KINSHASA 272 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues 
Clint Williamson met with senior officials from the Congolese 
Government (GDRC), MONUC, NGOs and the diplomatic community 
during his April 9-12 visit to Kinshasa.  He emphasized that 
his meetings were part of a broader Great Lakes visit 
designed to address war crimes issues in national as well as 
cross-border, regional contexts, and underscored that GDRC is 
critical to any long-term regional solutions. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary, continued:  Ambassador Williamson focused 
on three key issues in his DRC meetings: 
 
--  Gaining support for implementation of a Rewards for 
Justice program to target International Criminal Tribunal for 
Rwanda (ICTR) fugitives believed to be present in the DRC; 
 
--  Addressing the current status of the Nairobi and Goma 
processes and the challenges of extending state authority and 
ending impunity in eastern DRC; and 
 
--  Examining past atrocities in the DRC and discussing 
efforts to provide justice and accountability, particularly 
through the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human 
Rights, (OHCHR) human rights mapping exercise (ref A).  End 
Summary. 
 
Amani National Coordinator Malumalu 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Apollinaire Malumalu, national coordinator of the 
Amani Program set up to implement the Goma accords, 
highlighted the challenges to preventing war crimes and 
ending conflict in the east during a breakfast discussion 
with Ambassador Williamson.  Malumalu said war crimes in 
Congo are linked to lack of state authority and to 
inaccessibility of territory.  To improve the accountability 
of the Congolese military (FARDC), he recommended stationing 
FARDC units in permanent camps where they could be better 
controlled and disciplined.  He also stressed the importance 
of social and economic projects to ease the reinsertion and 
reintegration of ex-combatants into civilian life. 
 
Defense Minister Chikez 
----------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Defense Minister Chikez Diemu promised support for 
the Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program in his meeting with 
Ambassador Williamson.  Chikez said the DRC had consistently 
cooperated with international courts on war crimes issues, 
citing the transfer of three Ituri District militia leaders 
to the ICC and three Rwandans indicted by the ICTR to Arusha. 
 Ambassador Williamson emphasized that RFJ will target five 
specific ICTR fugitives, as opposed to the list of 6,997 
suspected FDLR genocidaires provided by Rwanda; both agreed 
it would be helpful if Rwanda prioritized that list. 
Ambassador Williamson reiterated the USG,s continuing 
commitment to a regional solution that addressed the FDLR and 
CNDP threats concurrently. 
 
Canadian Ambassador Johnson 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson and Canadian Ambassador Sigrid 
Johnson discussed Ambassador Garvelink's proposal that Canada 
lead an independent investigation into the Kalonge massacre 
in North Kivu in January (ref B).  Ambassador Johnson 
confirmed that the Canadian government is considering leading 
an investigation that would be acceptable to all parties, 
including the CNDP, NGOs, donors and the Goma process 
International Facilitation.  Ottawa is currently attempting 
to identify funding.  Johnson reported that a Canadian judge 
advocate general, Senior Brigadier General Watkins, would 
soon be arriving in Kinshasa for an initial assessment. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ambassador Johnson said Canada had pushed very 
strongly for retaining the UN independent human rights expert 
on the DRC.  Ambassador Williamson agreed that having some 
high-level human rights monitoring mechanism sent an 
important political message. 
 
 
KINSHASA 00000383  002 OF 004 
 
 
SRSG Doss 
--------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) SRSG Alan Doss said over lunch with Ambassador 
Williamson that there are no easy answers to integrating 
armed groups into the FARDC, suggesting that it must balance 
integration against the need to vet war crimes suspects. 
Doss said that an independent investigation into the Kalonge 
massacre should fully address the allegations and give 
alleged perpetrators the opportunity to respond to 
conclusions before making its report public.  When asked 
about MONUC,s rule of law mandate, Doss explained its 
primary role is to create baseline initiatives that will 
continue after MONUC,s departure.  Doss stated that MONUC,s 
UNSC mandate was now sufficiently robust and lacked only 
funding and resources. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Doss signaled MONUC,s political and logistical 
support for an RFJ program, saying it would send a strong 
message to Rwanda that the international community and the 
GDRC are serious about addressing the threat of the FDLR. 
Doss suggested that Ambassador Williamson encourage Rwanda to 
trim its FDLR list and publicly state that no one who was 
under 14 (the age of majority) in 1994 would be prosecuted 
for genocide. 
 
Deputy Chief of Staff Mayuma 
---------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson described the RFJ program to 
Louise Mayuma, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Kabila, 
seeking Kabila,s support for the program.  She promised to 
forward the information to Kabila in Lubumbashi immediately. 
She said fugitives must be arrested if found on DRC 
territory.  She expressed satisfaction that the program 
targeted the ICTR list, citing the large Rwandan FDLR list as 
a source of frustration for the DRC.  She claimed it masked 
Rwanda's true intentions and blocked progress on the return 
and reintegration of FDLR members into Rwandan society. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson conveyed to Mayuma an ICTR 
request for a meeting between the DRC, MONUC and the ICTR 
prosecutor,s office.  Mayuma said her office would contact 
Foreign Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi to determine the DRC 
response.  She called particular attention to the level of 
sexual violence in the DRC and asked for recommendations from 
the U.S. to address what she labeled sexual genocide. 
Ambassador Williamson said that the U.S. views increasing 
accountability and reducing impunity as essential to the 
long-term process of addressing conflict in the DRC. 
 
Interior Minister Kalume 
------------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) Minister Kalume drew immediate attention to the 
GDRC,s cooperation with the ICC, which Ambassador Williamson 
commended.  Ambassador Williamson asked how the DRC might 
identify and investigate war crimes in the east, noting that 
the Goma accords do not include amnesty for these offenses. 
Kalume said that MONUC should extend its observation 
resources and that the FARDC must respect national and 
international laws.  Kalume noted that replacing the FARDC by 
police in the east is part of the DRC,s plan for security 
sector reform.  He said it aims to group FARDC units in camps 
in strategic areas, with some elements concentrating on 
development and agricultural work.  Kalume said the Goma 
process would have failed but for USG,s continued strong 
support, stating that efforts by A/S Frazer's Senior Advisor 
Tim Shortley "saved Goma" and allowed others to follow. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Kalume detailed a list of alleged Bundu Dia Kongo 
(BDK) abuses in Bas-Congo province, including harassment of 
missionaries and non-Kongo residents, usurping border control 
functions, and holding trials and meting out sentences, 
including the death penalty.  He asserted that the people of 
Bas-Congo welcomed the police crackdown on the BDK in 
February and March (ref D). 
 
MONUC Joint Mission Analysis Center 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson highlighted USG plans for an 
RFJ program in discussions with MONUC,s Joint Mission 
Analysis Center (JMAC) Director Johan Peleman.  Ambassador 
Williamson said he would encourage the ICTR to share more 
 
KINSHASA 00000383  003 OF 004 
 
 
information on the five fugitives with MONUC.  He also raised 
the issue of the FDLR leadership in Europe and their 
financial influence.  Peleman emphasized that targeted 
sanctions against the leaders are ineffective because most 
FDLR are poor, partly due to the heavy expense of supporting 
its fighters and dependents. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Peleman made a number of helpful recommendations 
including keeping transportation corridors open through 
increase use of MONUC checkpoints, maintaining psychological 
pressure on the FDLR (press, UNSC resolutions, etc.) to 
increase fracturing, and giving the UN Human Rights office 
and NGOs specific instructions to identify FDLR members who 
commit human rights abuses, as they already do with CNDP and 
FARDC.  This would then give the GDRC a basis to act. 
Lastly, Peleman said that he believed alleged genocidaire 
Felicien Kabuga provided direct financial support from Kenya 
to the FDLR. 
 
Global Rights 
------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Victor Kashosi, administrator of the NGO Global 
Rights, told Ambassador Williamson that sexual violence is 
prevalent throughout the country and is increasingly 
perpetrated by civilians.  He said that more people look to 
local NGOs when aggrieved rather than to the judicial system. 
 Also, mobile courts are starting to work but people are 
still hesitant about them; they generally view courts as 
corrupt.  Kashosi called for more outreach efforts to raise 
public awareness of human rights and judicial processes. 
 
European diplomats 
------------------ 
 
¶16. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson discussed justice sector 
reform with European diplomats Andre Dellevoet of the 
Netherlands, Nico van Dijk of Belgium, and Thierry Vircoulon 
of the European Commission. Initial discussion focused on 
REJUSCO, the largest European-funded judicial program, which 
provides infrastructure assistance and technical training for 
magistrates.  Dellevoet expressed the European consensus that 
REJUSCO has been only marginally successful; the EU will 
maintain but not expand it.  The Netherlands plans to target 
human rights protection and sexual violence during the 
planning period 2008-2011.  Dellevoet and van Dijk 
characterized Congolese cooperation with REJUSCO as minimal. 
 
¶17. (SBU) All three Europeans noted the importance of 
establishing Congolese ownership of and commitment to 
judicial reform but criticized the GDRC,s lack of political 
and budgetary support for it.  Ambassador Williamson called 
domestic prosecutions the preferred option for addressing war 
crimes but said an international hybrid model was the next 
best alternative.  All participants agreed. 
 
MONUC Human Rights and Rule of Law divisions 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) MONUC Human Rights Officer Federico Borello told 
Ambassador Williamson in a joint meeting with MONUC's Rule of 
Law unit (ROL) that MONUC anticipates beginning the Human 
Rights Mapping Project in late May or early June.  Borello 
said the project's approach to the target period of March 
1993 to June 2003 will incorporate interests and grievances 
of all groups.  MONUC is currently advertising for leadership 
and technical positions for a team of approximately 30 
members.  The MONUC Human Rights team requested USG funding 
and political support for the project.  They described the 
failure to renew the mandate of the UN independent human 
rights expert on the DRC as the loss of a valuable conduit to 
the GDRC and international community. 
 
¶19. (SBU) ROL Director Harriet Solloway stressed that three 
elements were necessary for functioning courts:  protection, 
resources, and training.  She said that if Congolese courts 
are not capable of providing these, then international 
involvement would have to undertake any prosecutions 
resulting from the mapping exercise.  ROL is currently 
conducting a census of judicial infrastructure in all 
provinces which it expects to complete in July. 
 
British Ambassador Kay 
---------------------- 
 
 
KINSHASA 00000383  004 OF 004 
 
 
¶20. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson emphasized in his meeting 
with British Ambassador Nick Kay that an effective Rewards 
for Justice program will be dependent on collaboration among 
ICTR investigators, MONUC, and the GDRC.  Ambassador Kay 
expressed support for the program.  He noted that the British 
Embassy unsuccessfully attempted six months ago to initiate a 
small project in coordination with Congolese intelligence 
personnel to apprehend two or three of the ICTR fugitives. 
 
ICC office 
---------- 
 
¶21. (SBU) Roberto Buccanti, administrator of the office of 
the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Kinshasa, told 
Ambassador Williamson that the Congolese handover of former 
Ituri District militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo to the ICC 
went very smoothly, a commendable achievement for a 
beleaguered FARDC.  Ambassador Williamson recognized that the 
USG,s concerns about the ICC are well known but reiterated 
that a modus vivendi based on dialogue and a shared interest 
in ensuring accountability was the right approach.  Buccanti 
appreciated this and said he would convey it to his 
colleagues. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶22. (SBU) Ambassador Williamson,s visit provided a clear 
impetus to the peace process by framing an achievable goal: 
the capture of ICTR fugitives.  We anticipate rolling out a 
Rewards for Justice program targeting them in the near 
future.  The challenges to justice and accountability for war 
crimes in DRC are enormous, but the need for long-term 
solutions is even greater.  USG engagement in efforts that 
incrementally lay the groundwork, such as the UN Human Rights 
Mapping exercise, will give us a greater voice in shaping 
recommendations by the international community on charting 
the way forward.  End comment. 
 
¶23. (U) This message was cleared by Ambassador Williamson. 
GARVELINK