US embassy cable - 04KINSHASA1958

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 001958 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2014 
TAGS: ECON, EINV, ENRG, ETRD, ETTC, PINR, PREL, CG, CH, KN 
SUBJECT: CONGOLESE GOVERNMENT PLANNING VISIT TO CHINA, 
NORTH KOREA 
 
Classified By: PolCouns MSanderson, reasons 1.4 b/d. 
 
 1. (C)  Presidential Advisor and Special Ambassador Andre 
Kapanga told PolCouns October 18 that he and Foreign Minister 
Ramazani (possibly with other government officials) will be 
visiting China the first week of November, followed by a 
4-day visit to North Korea.  Kapanga said the delegation will 
try to encourage improved trade with and investment in the 
DRC by China, but seemed almost embarrassed when PolCouns 
asked what Congo could get from North Korea, and gave no 
clear answer except to assure her that the DRC certainly does 
not intend to sell anything like uranium to the North Koreans. 
 
2. (C)  China has long had a very visible presence in the 
DRC:  aside from its Embassy, there is also a relatively 
large (200-300 man) engineering battalion in Bukavu attached 
to the UN Mission to the Congo (MONUC).  This detachment is 
ostensibly responsible for maintaining the road to the 
airport, which is frequently washed out, but the deplorable 
condition of the road substantiates comments by Bukavu Monuc 
personnel that "no one knows what they are doing out there." 
In addition, there are numerous reports of Chinese (or other 
asian) individuals in Katanga province, near the Shinkolobwe 
mine, and recently Chinese businessmen have been visiting 
Lumbambashi, the Katangan capital.  It is possible that the 
government simply wants to officially capture its revenue 
share of the resource traffic which already probably is 
leaving Congo en route to China.  The same does not, however, 
apply to North Korea, which remains, at best, a very strange 
destination for this delegation. 
MEECE