VZCZCXRO6294
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1149/01 3621056
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281056Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0504
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SADC COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 001149 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
AIDAC 
 
AID/W FOR AFR/EA, DCHA/OFDA, DCHA/CMM 
 
STATE FOR AF/C AND GREAT LAKES SPECIAL ADVISOR WOLPE 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF AORC PREL CG
SUBJECT:   MASISI LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP YIELDS PROMISING 
           RESULTS FOR COOPERATION IN NORTH KIVU 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: On December 12 Michel Kassa briefed USAID Mission 
Director and TDY poloff on a Wilson Center-organized leadership 
training workshop held November 23-27 in Goma that brought together 
100 representatives of six communities in Masisi District, North 
Kivu.  The end results show promise of cooperation among the 
different tribal groups in the area.  An additional conference on 
conflict is planned for Rutshuru district.  End summary. 
 
 
Why Masisi?  Why now? 
--------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Kassa and his Wilson Center colleagues with USAID 
concurrence moved to replace other planned workshops with the Masisi 
forum for two major reasons.  First, the historic conflict over who 
controls the land in the area has escalated due to the new 
prominence of the ex-CNDP in the local/provincial administration and 
prospect for large scale returns of IDPs and refugees to Masisi. 
There is also increased interest from the provincial government, 
including North Kivu Lt. Governor Feller Lutaichirwa, to discuss the 
issue among the Masisi communities.  In addition, the appropriate 
Wilson Center facilitators were only available the week of November 
¶22. 
 
Organization 
------------ 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Kassa explained that the forum was comprised of two 
sub-meetings of about fifty people each that took place in Goma at 
the Stella and Karubu Hotels, respectively.  The groups combined in 
the final plenary sessions to negotiate, agree upon and sign a joint 
statement.  Wilson Center forums normally consist of groups of no 
more than 40 people, but local contacts -- especially Lutaichirwa 
and North Kivu Coordinator of the provincial peace building support 
office ("Cellule Provinciale d'Appui a la Pacification") Clovis 
Munihire -- made clear that such a small group would exclude too 
many of the essential Masisi stakeholders. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Participating groups were differentiated by ethnicity and 
included representatives of the Hutu, Hunde, Kumu, Tembo, Tutsi, and 
Twa (pygmy) communities.  No representatives of the armed wings were 
explicitly present, though in some cases delegation members spoke 
for the armed factions. Though the Tutsi delegates took what might 
be considered a "pro-CNDP" position, they did not represent the 
splits within the CNDP between the pro-Bosco faction, the political 
factions, and those who identify with former CNDP leader Laurent 
Nkunda. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The workshops differed in another important respect, in 
that the meetings are usually closed to all except the participants. 
However, because of the involvement of the international community 
in the supposed "plot" to dispossess communities in favor of 
returnees, representatives from UNHCR, UNHABITAT and Eastern 
Coordination of the UN were asked to be on-call to enter the 
meetings in order address questions or issues posed to them. 
 
Summary of proceedings 
---------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) At the start of the workshop, representatives of each 
group were asked to outline their complaints and grievances as well 
as the commitments and pledges they were willing to contribute to 
the solution finding process. Initial participation in this exercise 
was disheartening when the Tembo representatives outlined only their 
complaints and problems and refused to make any compromises or 
Qcomplaints and problems and refused to make any compromises or 
commitments.  Each of the other communities followed suit in a 
similar manner focusing only on their grievances and indicating few 
signs of their willingness to make compromises. 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The Hunde delegation leader took the hardest line of all 
the participants.  Kassa asked each group to include their most 
radical elements, but the Hunde leader insisted he could not speak 
for Hunde armed elements, and had no influence over them.  Further 
complicating their participation, the delegation leader was not even 
from Masisi, but lived in Goma. 
 
 
KINSHASA 00001149  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The tone of the workshop eventually shifted when the Tembo 
group, which had initiated the hard line approach, took the first 
step toward compromise.  They modified their unilateral statement 
and asked the other groups to pardon them for any wounds or offense 
the Tembo may have caused and, in turn, pardoned the others for 
anything they may have done against the Tembo.  Most of the other 
groups then followed this vein of compromise and became more 
accommodating.  The Tutsi group asked the others for pardon for the 
wars and destruction they may have caused, while the Hutus and the 
Kumus expressed a willingness to work with the others.  The Hunde 
group leader remained recalcitrant -- refusing to apologize and 
saying that when an apology does not come from the heart it is 
meaningless.  Kassa appealed over his head to others in the Hunde 
delegation, who agreed to work together with the other Masisi 
communities. 
 
¶9.  (U) At the final plenary, the delegates agreed to (a) keep their 
agreements; (b) only resolve their problems by non-violent means; 
(c) treat the complaints and problems of other communities with 
respect and to search for just and legal ways to resolve them; (d) 
treat one another with respect; and (e) work through the Technical 
Commission for Reconciliation and Pacification (STAREC) to 
peacefully resolve these conflicts. 
 
Kassa sees real progress, but questions remain 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The Hunde and Tembo local communities appeared to tone 
down their accusations that there is a "plot" against them to take 
their property.  They appeared appreciative of the fact that part of 
the problem, certainly insofar as the Hutu are concerned, is simply 
demographic.  Population growth is a fact of life, not necessarily a 
plot.  (Note: USAID Director and TDY poloff agreed that toning down 
conspiracy theories is important, but that even if Hutu conspiracy 
theories are being put to rest, Tutsi conspiracy theories continue 
to run rampant, especially in the light of CNDP power grabs and 
poorly documented crossborder population movements from Rwanda.  End 
note.) 
 
¶11.  (SBU) UNHCR Coordinator for Eastern DRC Karl Steinacker won 
cheers from the communities with his "humble but assertive" pledge 
that UNHCR would not take any actions or decisions about resettling 
people unless and until it had discussed the situation fully with 
all the communities. (Comment: Based on similar statements earlier 
in the week by Steinacker, it appears that UNHCR is saying it will 
not take any position -- pro, con, or indifferent -- on population 
movements within and into Masisi.  In other words, UNHCR will not do 
or say anything on the most controversial and dangerous political 
and security issue affecting the entire region, even one that is 
well within its mandate.  End comment.) 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The local community leaders agreed to the idea that 
refugees and IDPs from Masisi could indeed return to the area with 
one caveat:  Masisi leaders, or trusted representatives of the 
state, would screen those coming in to ensure that they were indeed 
from families who had historically lived there.  Representatives of 
the Tutsi community strongly supported this to ensure that only 
Tutsis who had a real claim to be inhabitants of the area -- and not 
QTutsis who had a real claim to be inhabitants of the area -- and not 
Tutsi outsiders from Rwanda or elsewhere -- were allowed to return. 
(Note:  USAID Director and TDY poloff indicated they would find it 
extremely unlikely that returnees and people who claim to hold 
property would put their fates in the hands of autochtone community 
leaders from different tribes or government officials unless they 
could guarantee decisions in their favor.  End note.) 
 
The CNDP factor 
--------------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Although the conference appeared to make important 
progress in bringing people together to discuss and resolve the 
issues that divide them rather than resort to armed conflict and 
unilateral action, an important question still remains.  The 
question arises:  How does this square with concurrent and 
subsequent developments, including the declaration of a new 
anti-government movement based on support from key CNDP elements, 
new CNDP and other defections from the FARDC, and the establishment 
of a parallel government structure in Masisi by people associated 
 
KINSHASA 00001149  003 OF 003 
 
 
with the CNDP? 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Kassa readily admitted that the leadership training 
discussion in Goma did not take into account the internal strife 
within the CNDP in general and Bosco Ntaganda's own agenda in 
particular.  He noted that Bosco had a tendency to act like this 
when he is under stress. For example, he established the MRC in an 
effort to maintain his relevance in Ituri circa 2004 when Tomas 
Lubanga and company in the UPC were cutting him loose.  Bosco does 
not speak for the whole CNDP and others associated with the group 
remain interested in working within the FARDC.  Kassa also noted 
that Seraphin Mirindi, a Mushi who had served as Nkunda's former 
political advisor, appeared content in the FARDC and others like 
Laurent Nkunda loyalist Sultani Makenga would not join with Bosco 
out of contempt for him.  Bosco's ability to appeal to Tutsis is 
limited because many see him as insufficiently cultured or educated. 
 They also see him as being more concerned with his own interests 
than with the security and interests of the Tutsis and their 
community. Kassa opined that the CNDP problem could potentially 
bring down the whole edifice and noted that other observers (he 
referred to Tutsi businessman Victor Ngezayo in particular) were 
very worried about the direction of the CNDP and Bosco's influence. 
 
 
What next? 
---------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Kassa said he believes his work with the Wilson Center on 
the Masisi issue is finished.  He hopes that ongoing efforts to 
build upon progress made during the November conference will involve 
others -- most notably the provincial government via the STAREC 
process.  He thought that Lt. Governor Lutaichirwa would be willing 
to build on the Goma talks and Clovis Munihire would make an 
excellent facilitator.  Follow on efforts by the North Kivu 
provincial authorities are being incorporated under the Government's 
STAREC program.  The North Kivu Peace and Reconciliation Commission, 
headed by Mr. Munihire, was established on November 9, 2009. Lt. 
Governor Lutachirwa recently requested funding for the Commission 
from USAID in support of a 25 member delegation from the Masisi 
forum in conducting community outreach regarding the engagements 
made, in the form of a letter delivered to the TDY USAID 
representative in Goma. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) The next event organized by Kassa and the Wilson Center 
is a conference on conflict in and around Rutshuru in January.  They 
suspect that Lutaichirwa (who can be a "Jeckyl and Hyde character") 
might be less supportive in the Rutshuru conference than he had been 
in the Goma sessions.  The Rutshuru conflict, which mainly involves 
competing claims of Hutu and Nande, is of less interest to 
Lutaichirwa than Masisi, where Lutaichirwa's Hunde group plays a 
more central role. 
 
¶17.  (U) Kassa also briefly mentioned the Wilson Center's role in 
organizing a workshop held December 3-4 around commemorations of 
U.S. academic Herbert Weiss's 50 years of working on and in the 
Congo.  Although the number of expected participants was 
disappointing, they are significant players in the region, including 
the Minister of Decentralization and Territorial Administration 
Mbusa Nyamwisi, several parliamentary deputies, members of civil 
society and lawyers. 
 
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