US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA1070

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001070 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2015 
TAGS: KDEM, PGOV, KPKO, CG 
SUBJECT: ELECTIONS: MIXED COMMITTEE APPROVES OPERATING 
BUDGET 
 
Classified By: PolCouns MSanderson, reasons 1.4 b/d. 
 
 1. (C)  Summary:  At the urgent request of the Minister of 
the Interior, the electoral "Comite de Pilotage" (the 
oversight committee composed of ambassadors from donor 
countries, UNDP, MONUC and Congolese ministers involved in 
the elections process) met June 29 to review progress on 
voter registration and address roadblocks to electoral 
security. Independent Electoral Commission President Malu 
Malu noted that after a few initial hiccups, almost 250,000 
eligible voters have been registered in Kinshasa in just 8 
days (of an estimated 3 million plus eligible voters), and 
said that about 50,000 new voters are now being registered 
daily at the 17 sites operating, with 4 new sites to be 
opened possibly as soon as this weekend.  Malu Malu and the 
Minister of Interior highlighted concerns with police 
salaries, equipment and transport which could negatively 
affect the GDRC's ability to secure the elections, pointing 
to delays by UNDP in disbursing necessary funds. The UNDP 
responded by saying that it was not clear that the Comite had 
actually approved the proposed GDRC elections security 
budget, which includes an estimate of the cost of providing 
arms to the police, an item which most donors are legally 
prohibited from funding.  The Minister of Defense noted that 
he is working on transfering to the police operational arms 
collected from demobilized soldiers, and when the Minister of 
Interior clarified that the budget should be approved minus 
the line item on armaments, the Comite agreed, laying the 
groundwork for the UNDP to begin fully funding the elections 
security process.  The Vice Minister of Finance also said 
that the GDRC electoral contribution ($4m) will be provided 
to the Basket Fund within seven days.  End Summary. 
 
Voter Registration Picking Up Speed 
----------------------------------- 
 
2. (C)  Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) President Malu 
Malu said that, after an unexpectedly late start due to 
holdups in delivering the voter registration machines (the 
plane carrying the machines broke down and was stranded 
several days in Libya), registration got underway June 20 in 
Kinshasa.  Only eight days later, he said that the CEI has 
registered almost 250,000 people in its 17 operational 
centers, and is processing about 50,000 people daily.  These 
totals should continue to increase, he said, given that the 
CEI is preparing to open an additional 4 registration centers 
(probably this weekend).  Despite a few initial glitches, he 
projected that the Kinshasa registration process (which 
ultimately will encompass slighly more than 3 million voters) 
should be completed on time. 
 
3. (C)  Of course there had been some initial obstacles, 
including operator errors, initial difficulties with 
identifying and deploying the police to secure the 
registration sites (and ongoing problems with ensuring their 
pay, food and transport), gasoline for the vehicles 
distribuing the machines to the sites, and ensuring that 
citizens actually went to their authorized registration 
centers and registered only once.  Malu Malu said that the 
gasoline problem appears to have been solved thanks to an 
UNDP contract with local gas stations.  (Comment:  Malu Malu 
told Ambassador privately that the problem had been that only 
one local supplier had been identified, which was not able to 
keep up with the demand.  The UNDP has now identified 
additional gasoline suppliers.  End Comment.)  Regarding 
registration fraud, he said that the CEI so far has 
identified 7 cases of multiple registration and expects to 
launch on Monday July 4 the first criminal prosecutions 
against 4 of the individuals (the other 3 might have been 
accidentally been registered more than once due to operator 
error).  The representative from the Ministry of Justice 
confirmed his Ministry's willingness to quickly file criminal 
charges and prosecute the individuals accused of multiple 
registration.  In response to a question from the Angolan 
Ambassador regarding registration for individuals with only 
one Congolese parent, the Justice rep said that per the 
Nationality Law these individuals should probably be 
Congolese citizens and entitled to vote, although Malu Malu 
added that these applications will be considered on a 
case-by-case basis.  (Comment:  Maintaining the legitimacy of 
the registration process -- by prosecuting fraudulent 
registrations and other means -- is key to ensuring that the 
UPDS campaign to urge people not to vote does not gain 
ground.  So far there is no indication that people are 
staying away from the registration sites; on the contrary, 
some people have to come back on a second day to complete 
registration due to the large numbers of applicants.  That 
said, Malu Malu comment separately to Ambassador that there 
had been three small security incidents at registration sites 
the morning of June 29, none serious.  End Comment.)  Malu 
Malu also noted that voter education campaigns underway in 
Kinshasa are now being conducted in local neighborhoods in 
Lingala, and a broader campaign for television and radio in 
various languages was approved by President Kabila last week 
and should soon be implemented. 
 
Ensuring Effective Security 
--------------------------- 
 
4. (C)  The crux of the June 28 meeting was ensuring that 
police, who have the principle responsibility for securing 
voter registration sites and, ultimately, polling stations, 
are appropriately trained, equipped and maintained.  This 
includes salary payments, rehabilitating 76 command and 
control centers for police operations, rehabilitating a 
police training academy in Bukavu, South Kivu province, 
purchasing equipment for police in Kinshasa, Bas-Congo and 
Province Orientale (the latter two are scheduled to begin 
registration in July), and ensuring transport and fuel for 
transporting police.  (Note:  The budget also included an 
estimate of the cost of supplying the police with necessary 
arms and ammunition, an item which several donor countries, 
and the UNDP, noted could not legally be financed with 
international contributions.  End Note.)  Both Malu Malu and 
the Minister of Interior indicated that in large part 
problems in these areas stemmed from a shortage of funds 
which had not yet been released by the UNDP.  In response, 
the UNDP representative said that it was not clear to him 
that the Comite had actually approved the proposed operating 
budget, mostly because the budget included a line item on 
armaments for the police.  He also asked about the promised 
GDRC contribution of $4m to the electoral Basket Fund which 
had been pledged months ago but was not yet forthcoming. 
 
5. (C)  The Minister of Defense addressed the question of 
arming the police by saying that he is developing a plan to 
transfer arms from demobilized soldiers to the police (note: 
most of the arms arriving in the demobilization centers are 
old and broken, but Monuc representatives had said previously 
that a certain percentage could still be used).  After the 
Minister of Interior clarified that the budget request did 
not include the line item on arms and munitions for the 
police, the Comite approved the request, thereby (at least in 
theory) allowing the UNDP to begin disbursing fully the funds 
necessary for these elements of electoral security. 
 
6. (C)  In response to several Ambassadors and SRSG Swing 
demanding "what is more important than elections, that the 
Congolese Finance Ministry still has not allocated the 
promised funds?" the Minister of Interior noted that the 
GDRC's pledge had come after the budget already had been 
approved and that the delay had come simply from the need to 
find an administrative mechanism to allow the funds to be 
disbursed.  The Vice Minister of Finance assured the 
Committee that the Congolese contribution of $4m would be 
given to the UNDP Basket Fund within seven working days. 
(Comment:  Given the Congolese track record to date we 
maintain a healthy skepticism on the timing, but if nothing 
else, they clearly are now alerted to the need to fulfill 
their pledge.  End Comment.) 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (C)  In all, a positive meeting.  Hopefully funds will now 
begin to flow to enable progress on the key issue of 
electoral (and voter registration) security. 
 
MEECE