US embassy cable - 04KINSHASA2001

UNCLAS KINSHASA 002001 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, CG 
SUBJECT: KINSHASA HOSTS GREAT LAKES CONFERENCE PREPARATORY 
MEETING 
 
 
1. (U) Summary. National coordinators for the Great Lakes 
Conference (GLC) held their second preparatory meeting in 
Kinshasa from October 19-23. The core group of seven members 
was enlarged to eleven with the addition of Sudan, the 
Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, and Angola. 
President Kabila addressed the meeting to convey full DRC 
support for the GLC process. Participants adopted a tentative 
statement of principles for the Dar-es-Salam summit scheduled 
for November 19-20. End Summary. 
 
Kinshasa Hosts Regional Preparatory Meeting 
------------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) Kinshasa hosted the second meeting of national 
coordinators for the Great Lakes Conference (GLC) from 
October 19 to the 23rd. The GLC will meet in Dar-es-Salam on 
November 19 and 20th, and it will address four main areas; 
peace and security, good governance and democracy, economic 
development and regional integration, and humanitarian and 
social issues. This conference is being coordinated by the UN 
SRSG for the Great Lakes Region Ibrahima Fall, with support 
from the European Union and the African Union and financing 
from the Netherlands and Canada. 
 
3. (U) The Kinshasa meeting included representatives from the 
original seven core members (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, 
Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, and the DRC) and the new four 
members (Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, 
and Angola) who will enjoy the same status as the original 
members. President Kabila gave a speech on the opening day of 
the meeting which signaled the DRC's full commitment to the 
GLC. SRSG Fall and DRC national Coordinator, Baudouin Hamuli, 
led the meetings and working sessions. 
 
4. (SBU) Congolese sources present at the Kinshasa meeting 
expressed satisfaction with the results, which included a 
preliminary declaration of principles to be signed by the 
heads of state at Dar-es-Salam. Participating members also 
presented their tentative agendas, which they will continue 
to refine during their next meeting of national coordinators 
scheduled for November 8-10 in Kampala. According to these 
sources, an important development was improved relations 
between the Rwandan and the DRC delegations. They noted that 
the U.S. sponsored tripartite talks among Rwanda, Uganda, and 
the DRC had also helped build confidence and had been 
specifically mentioned at the meeting as a positive 
initiative that the GLC process would support. 
 
GLC: A Process Rather than an Event 
----------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Hamuli told poloff October 26 that participants 
envisioned the GLC as a process that had already started, 
rather than as a one-time event in Dar es Salaam. In his 
view, the coordinating meetings in Bujumbura and Kinshasa had 
lessened regional tensions improved communication among the 
members, and served as confidence-building forums for the 
eventual summits. He noted that the Dar-es-Salam conference 
will adopt principles, which national commissions will then 
try to implement with concrete measures during the ensuing 
six months. Another summit of heads of state will then take 
place in June 2005. 
 
6. (SBU) Hamuli said President Kabila will attend the 
Dar-es-Salam summit along with heads of state of all other 10 
members. UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, Nigerian President 
Olusegun Obasanjo, and high level delegations from the 
European Union, the African Union, the World Bank, the 
African Development Bank, Canada and The Netherlands are also 
expected to attend the GLC summit. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (SBU) The Kinshasa preparatory meeting for the GLC 
provided an opportunity to the DRC to play a more prominent 
role in this regional initiative. Kabila's participation also 
signaled a stronger DRC commitment to this process -- a 
change from prior ambivalence about the GLC, motivated by 
suspicion over Rwanda's intentions. To the extent that the 
Kinshasa meeting and the overall GLC process help build 
regional confidence and improved communication channels, they 
can be seen as a positive steps. Nonetheless, the broad 
agenda and enlarged membership will make it more difficult 
for the GLC to achieve concrete results. Moreover, it remains 
to be seen whether national commissions will be able to turn 
general principles on peace and security, economic 
development and regional integration, democracy and good 
governance, and humanitarian and social issues into practical 
regional initiatives. End Comment. 
MEECE