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PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSA #2365/01 3221515
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P 181515Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0268
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 7340
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 1418
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RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0077
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 1107
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1907
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 2198
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 6994

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002365 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL CG BU RW UG SF EAID KDEM
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA: GREAT LAKES SPECIAL ADVISOR WOLPE 
 DISCUSSES ENHANCED USG GREAT LAKES ENGAGEMENT 
 
Ref: Pretoria 2181, Kinshasa 976, Kigali 736, Kampala 1304 
 
PRETORIA 00002365  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Great Lakes Special Advisor Howard Wolpe's 
message on Washington's enhanced Great Lakes engagement was welcomed 
warmly during the Special Advisor's October 30-November 2 visit to 
South Africa.  Wolpe renewed contacts with Deputy Foreign Minister 
Ebrahim, SAG Great Lakes Special Envoy Dhumisani Kumalo, Belgian 
Ambassador (former Great Lakes Special Envoy) Jan Mutton and Head of 
MONUC's South Africa office Mujahid Alam, as well as an Institute 
for Global Dialogue think tank team led by former DFM Aziz Pahad. 
The visit helped open doors for greater local engagement on Great 
Lakes issues.  End summary. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Deputy FM Welcomes U.S. Great Lakes Envoy 
----------------------------------------- 
 
2.. (SBU) Deputy Minister for International Relations and 
Cooperation (DFM) Ebrahim Ebrahim welcomed Special Advisor Wolpe and 
Ambassador Gips for a November 2 meeting at ruling African National 
Congress (ANC) headquarters.  Also present for the South African 
Government were South Africa's Great Lakes Special Envoy Dhumisani 
Kumalo and Director of U.S. Affairs at the Department of 
International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Fadl Nacerodien.  In 
addition to Ambassador Gips, Wolpe was accompanied by POL Counselor, 
Great Lakes Desk Officer Keith, and Deputy POL Counselor. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Special Advisor Wolpe briefed Ebrahim on the 
Administration's desire to restore balance to U.S. Africa policy by 
reinvigorating our engagement on Kenya, Nigeria, and the Great 
Lakes.  Wolpe said his mission was to restore the kind of active 
partnership on the Great Lakes that existed with former EU Great 
Lakes Special Envoy Aldo Ajello and himself during the Clinton 
Administration.  Ebrahim said he remembered Wolpe from Burundi 
talks.  Wolpe briefed Ebrahim on his travel to engage European 
capitals, where officials had complained about the recent drift in 
international engagement on the Great Lakes.  Wolpe spoke of 
energizing the network of Great Lakes envoys, and expanding the 
Great Lakes Contract Group to include all stakeholders, such as 
Norway, Sweden, Angola, and China.  Wolpe said there are plans for 
the Great Lakes envoys to travel to Angola and China early in 2010. 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Ebrahim welcomed Wolpe's plans, stressing that South 
Africa has been involved in trying to bring lasting peace to the 
Great Lakes since well before the Sun City Accords of 2002.  They 
agreed that efforts had yielded concrete results in Burundi.  The 
DFM said that the approximately 100 South African peacekeepers 
remaining in Burundi for VIP protection will be withdrawn at the end 
of 2009.  Kumalo said the SAG will send a "senior delegate" to 
Bujumbura to sign "various" agreements at the end of December when 
the SANDF contingent is due to leave. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Ebrahim and Wolpe agreed that the security situation in 
DRC will remain precarious as long as the Democratic Forces for the 
Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) remains a threat and as long as 
Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) are not regularly paid and 
disciplined.  The DFM and Wolpe welcomed progress in the 
relationship between DRC and Rwanda, including the recent exchange 
Qrelationship between DRC and Rwanda, including the recent exchange 
of ambassadors (please see Ref C).  Wolpe, DFM Ebrahim and Kumalo 
compared notes on the military training and assistance that the U.S. 
and SAG are providing to the GDRC.  They agreed that curbing the 
alarming rate of gender-based violence perpetrated by the military 
and securing some assurance that trained units will maintain their 
capabilities were enormous challenges. Ebrahim and Kumalo welcomed 
Wolpe's efforts to harmonize donor approaches to FARDC military 
training. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Ebrahim commented that a regional approach was needed to 
address linked conflicts and agreed with Wolpe on the importance of 
the DRC-Rwanda relationship.  Ambassador Kumalo credited 
collaborative leadership training provided by the Woodrow Wilson 
Center with creating possibilities to work with top leadership to 
find solutions and hopes that will continue.  Wolpe noted that he 
planned to raise the possibility during his upcoming visit to 
Kinshasa, adding that he sought to build a partnership with the GDRC 
and President Kabila. 
 
--------------------------- 
Former DFM Hosts Roundtable 
--------------------------- 
 
 
PRETORIA 00002365  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Former DFM Aziz Pahad welcomed Wolpe, the Ambassador, Pol 
Counselor, Great Lakes Desk Officer, and Deputy Pol Counselor on 
November 2 and introduced the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) 
policy think tank team led by Dr. Siphamandla Zondi, Program 
Director for Africa and Dr. Francis Ikome, Program Director, 
Multilateral.  Also present was Research Associate (and long-time 
South Africa resident Amcit) Francis Kornegay.  Wolpe briefed the 
IGD team on his mission to reinvigorate Great Lakes dialogue and to 
strengthen and expand the envoys network.  He spoke of the FDLR as 
the most serious threat to peace in the DRC, and the need for better 
measures to protect civilians, including possible MONUC-FARDC joint 
planning. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Asked what the USG will do to combat gender-based violence 
in eastern DRC, Wolpe spoke of USG efforts to promote military 
justice and provide mobile courts.  Wolpe added that the fundamental 
challenge is to move the players in DRC from zero-sum thinking to 
collaboration. He spoke of the Woodrow Wilson Center's efforts prior 
to the 2006 elections and expressed the hope that leadership 
training for the FARDC military command might make a difference. 
Wolpe spoke to the need for donors to harmonize military training 
doctrines.  He also raised the possibility of conditioning election 
assistance to progress on security sector reform. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Asked what donors are doing to establish a viable economy 
in Burundi, Wolpe said regional integration will play a key role in 
Burundi's economic future, and he pointed to coordinated action 
among donors to support regional solutions, including the 
International Conference on the Great Lakes he was about to attend, 
as well as the Friends of the Great Lakes led by Canada and the 
Netherlands. 
 
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Comment 
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¶10.  (SBU) The Wolpe visit, capped by a dinner hosted by the ADCM, 
was a good opportunity for the Mission to engage the SAG on Great 
Lakes policy, an area where we enjoy deep and broad agreement. 
 
GIPS