US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA1224

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 001224 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015 
TAGS: KDEM, PGOV, CG 
SUBJECT: UDPS LEADER STILL PLAYING THE SPOILER 
 
REF: KINSHASA 1202 
 
Classified By: A/DCM MSanderson, reasons 1.4 b/d. 
 
1. (C)  Summary:  UDPS leader Etienne Tshisekedi continues to 
miss opportunities to play a constructive role in the 
electoral process now underway in the DRC.  Most recently, 
after demanding -- and receiving -- a one-week extension of 
voter registration in Kinshasa to ensure that UDPS members 
would have time to register to vote (after having been 
instructed not to do so during the regular enrollment period 
by Tshisekedi himself) as a condition for his enrolling or 
announcing his intention to do so, the sphinx has not spoken. 
 Kinshasa registration will end definitively July 31, 
although if Tshisekedi so desired he still could register in 
Mbuji Mayi.  Doing so would be considerably less politically 
advantageous, however, and would reinforce the UDPS' image as 
a regional, rather than national, party. Tshisekedi 
increasingly risks becoming a spent political force if he 
maintains his rigid ways. End Summary. 
 
My Way Or I Won't Play 
---------------------- 
 
2. (C)  Although some elements of the UDPS senior party 
leadership -- notably Secretary General Remy Masamba -- 
continue to search for ways to move the UDPS into the 
electoral process following its failure to forcibly terminate 
the transition on June 30, party leader Etienne Tshisekedi 
refuses to play ball, instead continuing to insist that the 
transition is over and there will be no "valid" government in 
the DRC until he is installed as Prime Minister.  His rigid 
insistence on having his own way seems to be increasingly 
alienating him (quietly) from the majority of the party's 
members, and could imperil its ability to take part in 
national elections next year. 
 
3. (C)  For instance, on July 26, as voter registration was 
about to end in Kinshasa, UDPS people began a frantic series 
of phone consulations with Western Embassies and the 
Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) to see if it would be 
possible to extend the enrollment period for at least a week, 
to facilitate registration of UDPS members who had been 
forbidden by Tshisekedi to register during the normal 
process.  (Note:  When contacted we told the UDPS that this 
was not a decision for the US to make, and that only the 
President of the CEI could authorize such an extension. Abbe 
Malu Malu, head of the CEI, did extend registration to July 
31 (ref). End Note.)  We were told that if the extension were 
authorized, Tshisekedi would announce that his members should 
register, and also would register himself, or at least 
announce his intention to do so.  This did not happen. 
Instead, word was quietly passed by senior UDPS leaders to 
the Kinshasa-based membership that they should register if 
they had not already done so.  Tshisekedi himself, however, 
has so far neither spoken nor registered, although of course 
he has a few days left in which he could do so. 
 
Comment 
------ 
 
4. (C)  Tshisekedi seems determined to continue to play the 
role of electoral spoiler, regardless of how that decision 
impacts his party or his followers, many of whom seem already 
to have quietly registered, and certainly are doing so in 
Kisangani and other areas of Province Oriental and Bas-Congo, 
where registration is now underway.  Registration centers in 
Kinshasa are now mostly empty, with only about 14,000 people 
processed July 26 (vice the normal daily total of around 
150,000 during the scheduled registration period). Despite 
conciliatory noises by party moderates, the UDPS' 
authoritarian structure means that in the end, Tshisekedi's 
mono-mania is the party's final official word.  Although some 
Kinshasa newspapers questioned rhetorically whether elections 
are possible if the UDPS does not take part, we believe that 
it is only Tshisekedi himself who will be the loser if he 
fails to demonstrate quickly the necessary flexibility and 
willingness to take part in the process.  There is good 
reason to believe that the majority of the party members are 
quietly opting for elections, even if that will mean that 
their party leader will not be taking part.  Overall, 
Tshisekedi's choices are increasingly marginalizing him and, 
 
SIPDIS 
if he continues on this course, he risks dividing his party 
and becoming a spent political force, at least outside of his 
core constituency area in the Kasai provinces. 
MEECE