US embassy cable - 05KINSHASA1784

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 001784 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KPKO, MOPS, CG 
SUBJECT: FARDC: LRA FORCES BELIEVED NO LONGER IN DRC; 
MILITARY DEPLOYMENTS CONTINUE 
 
REF: KINSHASA 1770 
 
Classified By: PolOff CBrown, reasons 1.4 b/d. 
 
1. (C) MONUC Political Officer Oleg Sepelev briefed PolOff 
October 26 regarding the presence of Lord's Resistance Army 
forces in the DRC, as well as recent reactions by the Armed 
Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and 
Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF) to the LRA's 
activities. Sepelev said the FARDC and UPDF, after joint 
consultations October 25, reportedly agreed that LRA forces 
are not in the DRC and are now believed to be in southern 
Sudan. 
 
2. (C) Sepelev said MONUC officials have been told by 
Ugandans they are satisfied with recent FARDC troop 
deployments (reftel) taken to counter the LRA's reported 
presence in the DRC. In addition, Uganda has dropped its 
previous request to have its own forces track the LRA on DRC 
territory, a proposal which had been firmly rejected by the 
FARDC. Sepelev characterized the relations between Uganda and 
DRC as "normalized" on the LRA issue, at least for the time 
being. 
 
3. (C) As reported in reftel, MONUC is presently planning a 
joint operation with the FARDC to deal with any remaining 
problems with the LRA. MONUC is sending two companies to Aba 
to support the FARDC. Sepelev said MONUC is now also 
pressuring the FARDC to deploy some of its own troops from 
Aba to the Garamba Park area, where LRA forces have been 
known to operate in the past. 
 
4. (C) MONUC Chief of Operations Lt. Col. Mamadou Sane told 
PolOff that in order to conduct adequate operations against 
any LRA forces found in the DRC, MONUC must continue to 
provide logistical and technical assistance to the FARDC. 
Sane said FARDC troops are far from being well trained to 
deal with the LRA and could not conduct such operations 
independently. 
 
5. (C) Comment. Sepelev and Sane both appeared sincere in 
their conviction that the LRA had left DRC territory, 
repeatedly telling PolOff that both the FARDC and the UPDF 
were unequivocal in that belief. Moreover, both MONUC 
officials expressed enthusiasm with what appears to be a new 
sense of cooperation and normalization between the two 
countries, particularly given the level of tension between 
them during the past few weeks. Any re-entry of the LRA into 
the DRC (and failure of the FARDC to counter those forces) 
will certainly strain GDRC-GOU relations. End Comment. 
MEECE