US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA823

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000823 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, CG 
SUBJECT: MLC: ISOLATING BEMBA 
 
Classified By: PolCouns MSanderson, reasons 1.4 b/d. 
 
1. (1) PolCouns met May 17 and 18 with Movement for Congolese 
Liberation (MLC) members Olivier Kamitatu and Thomas Luhaka 
to discuss internal MLC politics and election strategy. 
(Note:  Kamitatu is the President of the National Assembly 
and Luhaka both the Secretary General of the MLC and the 
party's leader in the Assembly.  Kamitatu is viewed as the 
most likely alternative to Bemba in the event that the party 
should decide to change leaders. End Note.)  Both men 
privately deplored the inevitability of Jean Pierre Bemba's 
being the MLC candidate for President, although Kamitatu 
noted that the silver lining could be that Bemba would wind 
up without a position in the future government as long as the 
electoral law specifies that each individual may only run for 
one position in each election, i.e., Bemba must choose before 
the campaign begins whether to be a presidential or 
parliamentary candidate rather than having the option to 
pursue both.  Luhaka said that the recent constitutional 
debate highlighted the dissatisfaction of the party 
rank-and-file with Bemba, whose grasping and dictatorical 
nature is increasingly isolating him.  For instance, Luhaka 
said that during debate on presidential term limits Bemba 
called him and Kamitatu to insist that the party had to 
change its agreed position, a decision which ran completely 
counter to the desires of the parliamentarians.  Faced with 
the difficult choice of voting against his own conscience -- 
and forcing others to do so -- or disobeying a direct order 
from Bemba, Luhaka punted by asking Kamitatu's permission to 
leave the plenary hall, effectively allowing each MLC member 
to vote as he or she saw fit. 
 
2. (C)  Looking toward elections, Kamitatu said that Bemba's 
current inclination is to run a campaign based on his being 
the sole "pure" Congolese presidential candidate (a reference 
to President Kabila's supposedly mixed Tutsi background and 
VP Ruberwa's Tutsi lineage, and perhaps also a slam at 
Kamitatu's mixed race background as well).  Such a campaign 
would be hateful and divisive, Kamitatu acknowledged, but 
said that Bemba really has very little else to run on.  When 
PolCouns suggested that the MLC is best positioned to run on 
a platform of economic issues, particularly appealing to 
businessmen, Kamitatu smiled and retorted that businessmen 
won't win the election and Bemba doesn't know how to appeal 
to ordinary people.  He added that he personally doesn't 
believe that Bemba will win the presidency, and therefore he 
already is working on trying to field the strongest possible 
slate of parliamentary candidates to ensure an MLC majority 
in the future parliament, or at least position them to be 
part of a future majority coalition. 
 
3. (C)  PolCouns asked Kamitatu directly why he did not 
either attempt to run for president as an MLC candidate 
(effectively supplanting Bemba) or resign from the party and 
run separately.  Kamitatu replied that he felt he had a 
responsibility to the memory of those who had died in the MLC 
cause during the war, and to those who still believe that the 
party should stand for something.  He admitted that he very 
easily could leave the MLC, as he already is being courted by 
both the PPRD and RCD as well as "independent elements," but 
said that he would prefer to try to reform the party and 
realize its potential.  Luhaka later told PolCouns that, 
while all of this is true, Kamitatu also is afraid of Bemba, 
who has more than once hinted at a violent reaction against 
Kamitatu's family should Kamitatu try either to upstage him 
and/or leave the party.  Luhaka himself has considered 
leaving the MLC in favor of the PPRD, where his friend 
Antoine Ghonda would guarantee him entry, but has decided, 
like his friend and mentor Kamitatu, to stay where he is at 
least through the elections. 
 
4. (C) Both Kamitatu and Luhaka are quietly using their 
influence as senior party leaders to try to distance Bemba 
from the party, and separate his image from that of the MLC 
in the public mind.  They hope that by doing so they will be 
able to limit the damage inflicted on the MLC by Bemba's 
personal unpopularity. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
4. (C)  This quiet intraparty revolt is typical of the 
personal styles of both Kamitatu and Luhaka.  Both prefer 
circumlocution to confrontation and, particularly when 
dealing with Bemba, avoidance probably is the wisest course. 
That said, Bemba is not unaware of their actions.  While 
apparently not retaliating against Kamitatu so far (whose 
family's political connections make him far more valuable to 
Bemba than Luhaka), Bemba is beginning to orchestrate a 
campaign designed to force Luhaka to resign.  For instance, 
while not officially removing Luhaka as the Secretary General 
of the party, Bemba has instructed a different man to "act" 
as Luhaka's shadow, and has authorized him to sign documents, 
etc.  With months yet to go before official electoral 
campaining gets underway, there is ample opportunity for the 
MLC to implode, or for its internal weaknesses to be publicly 
exploited by other parties. 
DOUGHERTY