VZCZCXRO7666
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #0233 0711438
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 121438Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9297
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 KINSHASA 000233 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS PHUM PREF KPKO CG
SUBJECT:  EASTERN DRC NOTES - MARCH 12; INTEGRATION PROCESS FAVORING 
RWANDOPHONES 
 
REF:  KINSHASA 222 
 
¶1.  (U) The items contained in this report consist principally of 
spot information from various sources.  This report is not 
exhaustive, nor can all the information contained therein be 
confirmed at this time. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Goma sources recently spoke with two well-informed 
individuals, who maintained that the FARDC integration process is 
creating a Rwandophone-dominated army in the region (additional 
information on same topic in reftel).  One of these individuals is a 
senior traditional leader of the Hunde ethnic group; the other is a 
North Kivu armed group specialist. 
¶3.  (SBU) Both alleged that the integration process, as put into 
practice under General Numbi's operational command, is very 
different from the process that was presented to donors and the 
public at large.  According to the individuals, the process has 
increasingly consolidated military control of the Petit Nord in the 
hands of units heavily composed of and commanded by Rwandophones. 
¶4.  (SBU) There are now reportedly seven integrated brigades in the 
Petit Nord.  The origin of their commanders breaks down as follows: 
CNDP with 4; PARECO/Mugabo (Hutu wing) with 2; and core FARDC with 
¶1.  The more strategic axis commanders are apparently all 
Rwandophones.  (Note: In an informal conversation with Facilitation 
members on March 11, MONUC Political Officer Lajoussi said that 
MONUC had even more detailed figures, which confirmed the trend. 
End note). 
¶5.  (SBU) Both individuals stated that the Mugabo wing of PARECO, 
though overwhelmingly Hutu, once included members of other ethnic 
groups.  During integration operations, however, non-Hutu personnel 
were systematically turned away.  On the other hand, known FDLR 
elements within PARECO have knowingly been integrated. 
¶6.  (SBU) In addition, commissions have gone overwhelmingly to 
Rwandophones.  In the most obvious example, Mugabo himself has been 
made an axis commander within his old operational area, while his 
nominal commander within the PARECO structure, La Fontaine (leader 
of the Nande wing), has been sidelined.  Identification and 
integration operations have been systematically conducted only in 
areas where there are concentrations of CNDP or the Hutu wing of 
PARECO. 
¶7.  (SBU) Integration of members of other armed groups has, 
according to these contacts, simply been purposely delayed.  In a 
number of cases, these groups have been disbanded: their leaders 
have transferred to Goma, while their units have been cast adrift. 
In many cases, this means that these fighters have most likely 
drifted back into the bush and, perhaps, in some cases into the arms 
of the FDLR, with whom many of them have maintained longstanding 
relationships. 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment: In principle, any armed groups that have not 
undergone integration will at some point be considered outlaws, 
subject to military action.  Isolated, cut off from their senior 
commanders, feeling under pressure from a resurgent Rwandophone 
military presence (in most ways similar to former RCD 
configurations), these groups could very easily return to guerilla 
warfare, most likely in local coordination with the FDLR. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment continued: The outcome could be a situation in 
which the non-Rwandophone communities of the Petit Nord (plus many 
Hutu, not all of them FDLR) would find themselves once again at war 
with an armed, organized Rwandophone military establishment that has 
been legitimized as the official, integrated FARDC and that, unlike 
the former RDC groups, has support from the GDRC.  End comment. 
 
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