VZCZCXRO2390
RR RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBZ #0345/01 3441042
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101042Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1639
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0512
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0063
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0060
RUEHBZ/AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE 2052

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRAZZAVILLE 000345 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL CF EFIN EAGR EINV ETRD
SUBJECT: BRAZZAVILLE IN BRIEF:  DECEMBER 10, 2009 
 
REF: BRAZZAVILLE 331 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000345  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
In this issue: 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
-- Over 77,000 Flee Fighting in DRC 
 
-- Chevron Uncovers Theft 
 
-- HIPC Debt Relief May Come in January 
 
-- Bollore Assumes Control of Pointe Noire Container Port 
 
-- Sassou Launches Two Books, Prepares For Copenhagen 
 
 
 
Over 77,000 Flee Fighting in DRC 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶1.  (U) According to the GROC, there are now 77,488 displaced 
persons in camps spread along the Congo-Brazzaville bank of the 
Oubangui River, primarily in the Likouala region. Reports on 
both sides of the border indicate that what began as an ethnic 
conflict has now evolved into an organized rebellion against the 
government of the DRC. UNHCR Brazzaville reports that the 
militiamen have moved to within 60 kilometers of Gemena, DRC as 
part of an effort to consolidate and expand the area they 
control. As the geographic scope of the fighting has widened the 
flight across the Oubangui River into Congo-B has started anew. 
In the last two weeks, an additional 30,000 people have fled the 
violence in the Equateur Province of the Democratic Republic of 
Congo to Congo-Brazzaville. Unlike the group of displaced 
persons who fled to Congo-B in the first week of November, there 
have been no wounded in the latest group. According to UNHCR, 
these people are not fleeing attack; they are fleeing because 
they are afraid of being caught in the crossfire of the GDRC 
response to the rebellion. The total number of displaced is now 
over 77,000 and their camps extend over more than 500 kilometers 
from the town of Liranga at the confluence of the Oubangui and 
the Congo rivers all the way North up the Oubangui to the border 
with the Central African Republic. UNHCR Congo-B expects the 
number of displaced will grow as people continue to flee across 
the river to the relative safety of Congo-B. 
 
 
 
¶2. (U) Despite concerted efforts by both the UN and the GROC to 
respond to this crisis, the situation in the Likouala region 
remains alarming. The UN has already dispatched nearly 1000 tons 
of food and non-food aid to the region and distribution is 
underway in the major camps. The UN and GROC are preparing a 
barge for shipment up the river with 15,000 liters of fuel and 
an additional 300 tons of food. These important contributions, 
however, will inevitably fall short of reaching the growing 
needs of a large displaced population in an insecure and 
isolated region. During a recent meeting with the Ambassador, 
the World Food Program representative reported that many 
children in the camps are sick with malnutrition because their 
only source of food has been crushed cassava leaves. Prior to 
the recent cross border movement, the population of the Likouala 
region is estimated to have been 67,000. The population has more 
than doubled, and the displaced now outnumber the native 
population. The UN reported that the GROC has considered 
measures to relocate some of the displaced back across the river 
to alleviate the stress on the native population of Likouala. 
Insecurity in the region further complicates the humanitarian 
response. Two DRC militiamen were recently arrested in the ROC 
with 1,200 liters of gas that they were trying to move across 
the river. UNHCR reports that three armed men presumably en 
route to the Equateur Province in the DRC were arrested in 
Impfondo, ROC on November 8. In addition, there have been 
several reports of violence and even kidnappings in the camps 
carried out by DRC militiamen who crossed into the ROC. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U) Without a renewed commitment to meet the growing needs in 
the region, conditions will continue to worsen. The European 
Union is set to provide some two million Euros in additional aid 
via the World Food Program and UNHCR later this week. The 
Italian Embassy in Brazzaville has also recently contributed 
about 300,000 Euros in emergency aid. Efforts to find more 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000345  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
lasting solutions, however, continue to be complicated by the 
lack of an official declaration of refugee status for the 
displaced. Without the official refugee declaration, UNHCR is 
somewhat constrained in what it can provide to the displaced. 
UNHCR continues to request that the GROC make the declaration, 
and reports that they expect to have a decision of refugee 
status before December 16. (Comment: There are reports that the 
GDRC is pressuring the GROC not to make the official 
declaration. Another possibility is that the GROC does not want 
to provide refugee status because it is concerned that this will 
encourage the displaced to stay in Congo-B. End comment.) 
 
 
 
Chevron Uncovers Theft 
 
------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Chevron is currently caught in a legal dispute that is 
preventing several of its employees from leaving the country. In 
the process of preparing for the sale of a downstream asset, its 
retail gas stations that carry the Texaco logo, Chevron recently 
uncovered a theft of approximately $10 million USD involving 
some of its own employees and those of French-owned bank BCI. 
Chevron turned the case over to the authorities, which launched 
an investigation that resulted in the arrest of several of 
Chevron's local employees. Meanwhile, a judge in Brazzaville 
launched a parallel investigation, which has resulted in the 
reported harassment of several Chevron employees. Chevron would 
like to send these employees out of the country, but the local 
authorities have thus far prevented them from leaving, citing 
the ongoing investigation. (Note: Some of these employees are 
expatriates, but none are American citizens. End note.)  The 
Ambassador has been in frequent contact with the head of Chevron 
operations in Congo, and spoke with Minister of the Interior 
Raymond Mboulou on December 9 to express concern about the 
treatment of Chevron employees and to request that the two 
investigations be reconciled. The Ambassador is currently 
seeking a meeting with the Minister of Justice. 
 
 
 
HIPC Debt Relief May Come in January 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) The visiting World Bank/IMF Highly-Indebted Poor 
Country (HIPC) debt relief team informed the Ambassador December 
4 that Congo may achieve debt relief by January of 2010. There 
will be a debt relief board meeting to discuss Congo's case 
during the third week of January. The IMF team noted that the 
Congolese have made progress in all areas and said "it is a done 
deal." According to the team, the Congolese have made the recent 
progress in the commercialization of oil trading. At the request 
of the IMF/World Bank team, the Congolese will in January 
dissolve COTRADE (which was headed by President Sassou's son). 
The national oil company, SNPC, (not its subsidiary COTRADE) 
will now be responsible for oil trading on Congo's account, 
under newly-designed standardized commercial procedures for 
trading oil and using a new database to track trades. The 
government has also reportedly implemented a new accounting 
system for audits of the oil sector and should soon be finished 
with an audit of 2008 oil revenues. In other areas outside of 
the oil sector, the government has adopted a new procurement 
code, standard bidding documents, an operational procurement 
manual, and a training program. In the forestry sector, the 
government has proposed fiscal amendments that would return more 
revenue to local communities and would require a greater 
percentage of finished wood products as opposed to raw material. 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: It was clear from this meeting that the 
IMF/World Bank officials want to finish this process now so that 
Congo may achieve debt relief. They appeared convinced that 
additional cooperation from the Congolese may not be forthcoming 
if the government does not achieve debt relief as a result of 
its efforts. The officials are aware that once debt relief comes 
there is significantly less incentive for the Congolese to 
follow through on these reforms. End comment.) 
 
 
 
Bollore Assumes Control of Pointe Noire Container Port 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000345  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) During a visit to the port of Pointe Noire December 
1-4, the U.S. Coast Guard had the opportunity to view the 
newly-privatized container port operated by the private French 
consortium the Bollore Group since December 1, 2009. Bollore has 
named the new container port "Congo Terminal" and has already 
put in place a computerized tracking system for all of the 
containers in the port.  Next steps include deepening the port 
to 15 meters, adding 30 percent to the length of the existing 
dock so that four container ships may offload at once, and 
adding a jetty on the ocean side of the container port. Bollore 
sees Pointe Noire not only as a regional hub, but as the primary 
point of entry into Central Africa. By 2016 Bollore will take 
over the entire container port area, including land that is 
currently occupied by a flour mill that is owned and operated by 
the American company Seaboard, under the local name MINOCO 
(reftel). During separate conversations, both Bollore and the 
Port Director insisted that Seaboard must move the mill, 
claiming that the loss of operating space won't allow Bollore to 
fully implement its plans for mechanized operation of the port. 
Bollore said it intends to erect fully automated cranes so that 
forklifts will no longer be required anywhere in the container 
port. For its part, Seaboard told the visiting team that it 
intends to request that the government provide a suitable 
alternative, such as a sizable tract of land adjacent to Total 
Oil's Djeno facility, so that it may tap into the natural gas 
lines in order to power the mill and an industrial-sized bakery. 
(Comment: Having just completed the privatization of the flour 
mill, Seaboard understandably feels that it has just purchased 
something that immediately lost much of its value. End comment.) 
 
 
 
Sassou Launches Two Books, Prepares For Copenhagen 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
 
 
¶8. (U) President Sassou launched two new books this week, one on 
sustainable development and climate change ("L'Afrique, Enjeu de 
la Planete"), and another based on a parable `the tree of the 
ancestors' ("Gondwana et l'arbre des Ancetres"). Fortunately 
neither of these books pretends to have a foreword written by 
Nelson Mandela, or anyone else. (Note: The scandal over Sassou's 
previous book "Straight Speaking for Africa" has largely passed, 
with a visit to Brazzaville by Tokyo Sexwale, who noted that 
some of the statements made in the foreword can be attributed to 
a speech Mandela made in Cape Town in 1996.  However, the claim 
that Mandela actually wrote the foreword, or even endorsed it in 
advance, as stated on the book's cover, was not accurate. End 
note.) With the publication of these books, President Sassou 
appears to be vying to gain profile in advance of the climate 
change summit in Copenhagen later this month. According to the 
Foreign Ministry, Sassou will attend the climate change 
coordination meetings hosted by President Sarkozy in Paris 
before traveling to Copenhagen. Based on his public statements 
and comments by government officials, it is not clear what 
position Sassou will take on climate change in Copenhagen, 
beyond a general plea that countries in the Congo basin should 
be compensated for not cutting down tropical forests. Sassou may 
also highlight the land he has set aside for national parks over 
the years, and measures his government has put in place to track 
and control timber exports. 
EASTHAM