Cablegate: Katanga Child Soldier Demobilization Harder Than

VZCZCXRO1772
PP RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR
DE RUEHKI #1095 1881044
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071044Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4333
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001095

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KPKO CG
SUBJECT: KATANGA CHILD SOLDIER DEMOBILIZATION HARDER THAN
IT LOOKS

1. (SBU) Two thousand and six children associated with
armed groups in Tanganyika district, Katanga have gone
through the disarmament, demobilization, and reinsertion
(DDR) program since February 2003. According to the
International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH)
Kalemie office director (Note: In north Katanga, IFESH is
the DDR focal point for children. End note.), 1,499 of these
children have been verified and/or certified by their agency;
408 are supported in training activities, and 53 are
supported in vocational education activities.

2. (SBU) According to MONUC Kalemie's child protection
officer, at least 1,500 children remain in Mai Mai militia
groups. In such cases, it is very difficult to get access to
the child soldiers, she said, because often the entire family
is part of the militia. Separating out the child when there
are no funds and no centers for separated children or orphans
in the area makes little sense. Many families and children,
she added, come out of the bush themselves, i.e. they
auto-demobilize without entering the official DDR program.
In so doing, they receive none of the assistance or benefits
provided by CONADER, have no access to education, and face
the continued stigma of being associated with an armed group.
MONUC and local NGOs have great difficulty reaching these
families, she said. However, during the three and a half
months it was open (septel), the Kalemie CONADER center
received more than 120 children.

3. (SBU) The IFESH director also listed several additional
difficulties in demobilizing children related to armed
groups. First, the situation in certain parts of north and
central Katanga is too dangerous for NGOs to carry out their
work. Second, fraud in the DDR process is rampant. Third,
children may be related or married to ex-combatants, making
it difficult to verify whether they played a role in the
military or were simply family members. Only those
associated with armed groups can benefit from the DDR
program. According to IFESH, the verification process is
quite complex, and their NGO has refused some children for
being either community children (not associated with armed
groups) or for having been through the DDR program already.
Finally, the lack of assistance to all children in vulnerable
situations, not just children in armed groups, creates an
unequal dynamic. Although child soldiers may not have
received an education, more than 50% of the children in
Tanganyika province are not in school either.

4. (SBU) Comment: MONUC and NGO efforts to demobilize
child soldiers in north Katanga illustrate just how difficult
and entrenched such a problem can be. Adult demobilization
and child demobilization, especially with Congolese armed
groups such as the Mai Mai, must function in concert.
Furthermore, the problems that plague adult DDR programs also
play out in child soldier programs (fraud, issues of fairness
within the community, security). Only with full integration
of the FARDC and the disarmament and demobilization of all
illegal armed groups will all children associated with them
be guaranteed a normal life. End comment.
MEECE

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