US embassy cable - 04MAPUTO338

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000338 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR AF/S, AF/C, AF/RSA 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, PREF, CG, XA, ZF, MZ, SF, UG, BY, Peacekeeping, UN 
SUBJECT: SYGSR SWING BRIEFS ON CHISSANO MEETING 
 
 
1. On March 8, Secretary General's Special Representative 
Ambassador William Swing called on Ambassador to brief on his 
meeting in Maputo with President Chissano and the current 
situation of the MONUC in DRC with sixteen months until the 
planned June 2005 elections. 
 
2. Ambassador Swing told us that in his meeting with 
Chissano, he described MONUC's dramatic, but incomplete, 
progress and laid out the difficult, but not insurmountable 
problems they face. He discussed the different options and 
estimated price tags for the elections next year, depending 
on the timing of local, provincial, and national polls (and 
the possibility of conducting them simultaneously). Turning 
to demobilization, Amb. Swing detailed successes, but also 
the fact that forty to fifty thousand combatants remain to be 
sent back, as well roughly one thousand each from Uganda, 
Burundi, and the Interhambwe. 
 
3. Amb. Swing found Chissano gracious and engaged, and 
described their meeting as friendly and productive. He 
thanked Chissano for his role in chairing the recent meeting 
in South Africa and made four points. First, he encouraged 
Chissano to visit Congo. Swing noted the importance of 
Chissano's visit not only as current President of the AU, but 
also as the African national leader with the most relevant 
experience for Congo coming from transition from civil war to 
political stability. Chissano said that he wants to schedule 
a substantive three to four day visit, rather than just an 
airport meeting. Second, Swing asked Chissano to join the SG 
in making a strong appeal to Uganda and Rwanda to drastically 
reduce the supply of arms, while MONUC concentrates on 
reducing demand. Third, he requested that the GRM send a 
diplomat to represent Mozambique in Kinshasa, (Swing went as 
far as to offer logistical support to the Mozambican 
Ambassador and suggested the South Africans might let him 
work from their mission). Fourth, he expressed the hope that 
Chissano would participate in a ceremony to mark the one-year 
anniversary of the Congolese All-Parties Agreement in South 
Africa, in an effort to reinforce for the Congolese partners 
the progress that has been made. 
LA LIME