US embassy cable - 00KINSHASA8561

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 008561 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, ASEC, PHUM, CG 
SUBJECT: GOMA POLITICAL NOTES 
 
REF: A. KIGALI 4167 
     B. KINSHASA 8211 
     C. KIGALI 4261 
     D. KINSHASA 4046 
 
 
Classified by Economic Officer Katherine Simonds.  Reason: 
1.5(d). 
 
 
1. (C) Goma is not a very political town, despite its status 
as administrative headquarters for the RCD.  While numerous 
general strikes (villes mortes) closed down Bukavu for days 
at a time over the last year, in Goma only one part of the 
city shut down and that for only one day.  Residents of Goma, 
like their countrymen in Kinshasa, are focussed on survival. 
However unhappy they may be with the authorities, they devote 
their energy to getting through each day, rather than to 
political activity.  Nevertheless, during Econoff's five-day 
visit to Goma, political themes arose.  This cable (the last 
of the series of reports on the visit) covers political 
issues, including: impressions of the RCD; the absence of 
concrete signs that Rwanda ultimately intends to annex the 
Kivus; the attitudes of Goma residents toward Kabila and 
Kinshasa; and the aborted attempt by a prominent businessman 
to form a new political party.  This cable also touches on 
security issues. 
 
 
---------------------- 
Impressions of the RCD 
---------------------- 
 
 
2. (C) RCD leaders were eager to meet with Econoff.  The 
RCD's Director of External Relations (equivalent to Minister 
of Foreign Affairs) immediately returned econoff's call 
although he was at the airport departing for a Joint 
Political Committee meeting.  He asked her to meet with his 
deputy.  The deputy insisted on arranging meetings with the 
RCD's Directors of Mines, Finance and Economy, and all three 
made time for the meetings, despite the fact that most of 
their week was taken up with a general meeting of party 
leaders.  Even Secretary General Ruberwa tried to arrange a 
meeting with econoff. 
 
 
3. (C) The RCD met 6-8 hours a day for three days during 
econoffs visit to formulate an action plan for the party. 
The business community was scornful of the meetings and of 
the RCD in general.  They note that the party has a penchant 
for long meetings that produce little; the RCD met for almost 
a full month soon after it was formed.  Business contacts 
concede that the recent cabinet shuffle (Ref A) improved the 
quality of RCD department heads, but believe that any effort 
at good governance currently underway is too little and too 
late to earn the party popular support.  Many of the people 
with whom econoff discussed the RCD's new policy for coltan 
exports (Ref B) are confident that the RCD will back down 
under pressure, as, they say, it has done several times in 
the past. 
 
 
----------------------------- 
Congolese Institutions Remain 
----------------------------- 
 
 
4. (C) While Rwanda clearly runs the RCD and, through the 
RCD, the Kivus, they have not altered the basic Congolese 
structure of governance.  There is no obvious displacement of 
Congolese institutions by Rwandan institutions, which might 
be expected if Rwanda's plans include future annexation of 
the Kivus, as some believe.  Both the RCD's Director of 
Finance and the local coordinator of the electricity 
parastatal SNEL briefed econoff on the administrative 
structure of enterprises under their control.  The Finance 
Director said that the RCD controlled parts of eight 
different provinces.  In each province, a governor and 
various state services (e.g. customs and other revenue 
agencies) operate, in accordance with Congolese law.  He said 
all are officially subservient to Kinshasa, but the RCD has 
appointed a coordinator for each agency to control things 
until Kinshasa can take over once again.  The SNEL 
coordinator described his role in similar terms. 
 
 
-------------------- 
Nostalgia for Kabila 
-------------------- 
 
 
5. (C) People from all levels of society in Goma were 
interested to hear how things are going in Kinshasa.  Both 
affluent and average Gomans asked about the dollar-franc 
exchange rate in Kinshasa (which is about twice as high as in 
Goma).  Several people told econoff they had heard there was 
"famine" in Kinshasa.  Although Goma suffered some severe 
looting when the AFDL arrived, casual conversation suggests 
that Kabila is popular in Goma.  He gets credit for helping 
to get rid of the refugees who destroyed the local economy. 
A couple of contacts told econoff that there was a brief 
respite from the fear of victimization under Kabila.  One 
commented that for about a year, soldiers got paid, and 
didn't need to rob the populace in order to survive.  Another 
commented that the AFDL had executed a few thieves when it 
came through Goma, and subsequently banditry stopped.  There 
is no nostalgia for Mobutu, and his luxurious former 
residence (which now houses RCD offices) is known locally as 
the Museum of Shame. 
 
 
-------------------------- 
Birth and Death of a Party 
-------------------------- 
 
 
6. (C) Victor Ngezayo told econoff about his attempt to form 
a political party, the Congolese Patriotic Movement (MPC) 
(Ref C).  He said he founded the party to create a voice for 
good governance and tolerance.  He believes that the 
Congolese have no faith in democracy and expect nothing from 
government because they have been burdened for 40 years by a 
dysfunctional system.  To launch the MPC, he held a nine-day 
workshop open to everyone, including RCD and Mai Mai, to 
discuss the nature of the current crisis and to look for ways 
to end the war.  Ngezayo sent the declaration the workshop 
produced to the RCD.  His cover letter was conciliatory, 
noting that the MPC shared the values and motivations that 
inspired the RCD's 1998 rebellion. 
 
 
7. (C) Ngezayo said that the MPC's declaration, which was 
released on the same day the RCD restructured (Ref A), was 
seen as sabotage by party leaders.  Bizima Karaha threatened 
Ngezayo and others with hanging.  Ngezayo said that Karaha 
told him: "This is our territory.  Go conquer your own." 
Ngezayo told econoff he didn't want to get anyone killed, so 
he suspended his party. 
 
 
8. (C) Ngezayo gave econoff a copy of the report on his 
workshop prepared for the RCD's intelligence service.  The 
memo's description of the workshop is remarkably similar to 
Ngezayo's.  The memo says the ostensible purpose of the 
workshop was to analyze the current crisis, but the real goal 
was to start a political party "to install democracy and the 
rule of law in the Congo."  The author of the memo, Director 
General of Internal Security Christian Bya-Mweze, warns that 
the MPC could lead some leaders astray and calls for a 
forceful RCD response. 
 
 
-------------- 
Security Notes 
-------------- 
 
 
9. (C) While life in Goma is relatively secure, there are 
constant reminders that the situation is dramatically 
different in the rest of North Kivu.  The owner of a 
transportation company was interrupted during lunch by a 
phone call reporting delays due to the ambush of a truck just 
seven kilometers outside town on the road past the airport. 
A coffee buyer from Beni on a visit to Goma mentioned that a 
few nights earlier two people were killed in central Beni. 
He then commented that whenever a couple of UPDF are killed, 
the Ugandans burn villages and kill forty Congolese.  The 
Vice President of the local Chamber of Commerce (FEC) 
mentioned in a similarly offhand manner that he had been 
forced to assume double duties when the local FEC President 
was killed in a road ambush. 
 
 
10. (C) Residents of Goma describe a much more complicated 
security picture than is recognized in Kinshasa.  When 
attacks occur by irregular combatants, the perpetrators could 
be members of any of a number of groups: Mai Mai, Mongol, 
Simba, FDD, SPLA, LRA, Ex-FAR, Interhamwe, deserters or 
bandits.  Fixing blame is difficult.  (It is notable that 
those in Goma view the ex-FAR and Interhamwe as two separate 
groups, never linking them casually as is common in 
Kinshasa.)  Asked about reports that the Rwandans have 
created a force of false Interhamwe (Ref D), residents of 
Goma have an open mind.  They don't rule out the possibility 
that there is a Rwandan campaign to terrorize local 
residents, but note that these reports may simply refer to 
Rwandan expeditionary forces made up of recently released 
prisoners.  Anything is possible.  The great fear of Goma 
residents is that the Kivu provinces, once referred to as 
"Little Switzerland," will become a land made up of warlords' 
fiefdoms. 
SWING