US embassy cable - 04KINSHASA1476

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 001476 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, CG 
SUBJECT: ICC GEARING UP TO START ITURI INVESTIGATION 
 
REF: KINSHASA 707 
 
Classified By: Poloff Meghan Moore for Reasons 1.5 B and D 
 
1. (C) Summary: During the International Criminal Court's 
(ICC) first official visit to the DRC, Deputy Prosecutor 
Serge Brammertz met with interested parties to open lines of 
communication, work on technical judicial issues, and learn 
more about the situation on the ground. Post welcomed 
Brammertz's open admission that his team is still getting up 
to speed, will work in a difficult political and logistical 
environment, and will have a profound impact on politics in 
the DRC. Most importantly, he seems to understand that 
initial ICC investigations need to be conducted in a manner 
that will not derail the transition.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) The International Criminal Court (ICC) made its first 
official visit to the DRC from July 26-July 30. The 
delegation, led by Deputy Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, met 
with Kinshasa-based Congolese officials, MONUC and other UN 
agencies, local and international human rights groups, civil 
society, and diplomatic missions. During a July 30 courtesy 
call on the Charge, Brammertz said their mission was focused 
on meeting the relevant actors, coordinating technical legal 
issues with Congolese justice officials, and learning more 
about the situation on the ground. They were happy that their 
visit was warmly received by the Congolese people, but were 
surprised by the Congolese media's extreme interest and poor 
journalism.  Brammertz confirmed that initial investigations 
would focus on the Ituri region, but said that the 
President's request was more general, and the ICC will look 
into other areas as necessary. 
 
3. (C) The delegation stressed that they understood the DRC 
is a difficult and complex environment in which to work, both 
for logistical and political reasons. Brammertz said the ICC 
plans to conduct its work within the wider context of the 
peace process and will need to strike the right balance of 
ending criminal impunity while not jeopardizing the 
transition. In particular, he hopes that ICC's initial 
investigations, which will focus on abuses committed by 
actors outside the transition, such as the Ituri armed 
groups, will help bring the transitional government closer 
together. (Note: The ICC may only prosecute crimes committed 
since July 1, 2002 when the Rome Statute establishing the 
court entered into force. End note.). 
 
4. (C) Operationally, the ICC is in the process of getting 
its DRC operations up and running and hammering out technical 
judicial issues, most notably how the ICC and the Congolese 
courts will work together (complementarity). The ICC plans to 
establish their local office as early as September, when they 
will start initial investigations. Going forward, Brammertz 
said their main challenges will be managing Congolese 
expectations, and developing objective criteria for 
establishing investigations. 
 
5. (C) On August 3, a MONUC Poloff who works on Ituri 
commented to poloff that the delegation appeared to have 
relatively limited knowledge of Ituri. For example, she said 
they had not seen the widely available documentary, Congo's 
Killing Fields, did not know that a number of local and 
international groups have extensive photographic evidence of 
the atrocities, and were surprised by the wide-scale, 
de-centralized nature of the violence. 
 
Comment 
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6. (C) Post welcomed Brammertz's open admission that his team 
of 10-12 is still getting up to speed, will work in a 
difficult political and logistical environment, and will have 
a profound impact on politics in the DRC. Most importantly, 
he seems to understand that initial ICC investigations need 
to be conducted in a manner that will not derail the 
transition. 
MEECE