[Zaire] Message to the United Kingdom

[JJSmithJr]

Private and Encrypted

From the Zairian Minister of Foreign Affairs: Laurent-Désiré Kabila
To the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Lawrence Adams MP

Mr. Adams,

I am reaching out to you and your government today on behalf of the people of Zaire, and indeed all of Central Africa, long considered a place full of refugees, pestilence, and warfare, my government is committed to bringing stability, opportunity, and prosperity tot he people of Zaire and Central Africa. We face desperate challenges to do this however, and to be frank, we will be in the need of assistance, currently there are numerous issues plaguing Zaire that are deserving of immediate attention, however one that must be addressed we believe first, and with vigor, is the issue of unreliable and poor transit infrastructure. Our government is committed to addressing the issues of transit, however, our nation lacks several critical criteria for doing so, and as such we must address these deficiencies before moving forward.

The devastation of the Second Congo War was not just limited to the infrastructure damage, the loss of many of our experts in transit, and the general collapse of education during that time period has left us without the technical experts to even begin the process of repairing and expanding our transit infrastrcuture to reasonable levels that allow the proper transport of food, water, medicine, and other vital consumer goods that will transform Zaire into a modern state. To that end, we are asking your government's interest in negotiating a deal to secure the transport of technical experts, university staff, and other educators to Zaire, to train our own technical experts, as well as help plan the actual physical steps that must be taken to fix our major transit issues.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs​

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To:	Ms. Nina O. Pedersen
Cc:
Subject	Re:South Pacific Forum
Security Level:	Private / Encrypted

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Dear Ms. Nina O. Pedersen,

Thank you for contacting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Your email was well received and we understand the struggles that your country faces, constantly striving to survive all the challenges you face and of course, this is something we will heavily support and assist with where possible. With that in mind, we have a number of resources we could offer if you would welcome them:

- An RAF led Operation to provide supplies across Congo and distribute them accordingly, part of a two month option.
or
- British Army Logistics Company to deploy to Congo to provide the transport of food, water and other vital goods whilst providing training in how to do such to your own personnel as part of a six month operation.

We will also, on top of one of the choices mentioned above, make a call for volunteers of more specific field experts to join our forces on deployment to provide a more educational front whilst our armed forces could aid with the logistics and frontline training.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Kind Regards,
MWilliams
Martin Williams
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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?mofa@gov.co.uk​

☎️03700 00 22 44​

✉️Ministry of Foreign Affairs, King Charles Street, London, SW1​

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JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

Private and Encrypted

From the Zairian Minister of Foreign Affairs: Laurent-Désiré Kabila
To the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Martin Williams

We are currently in negotiations for the delivery of the fresh water supplies we need to halt the water crisis in a temporary fashion here in Zaire, however to ensure that the water gets to those who need it, and to also run alongside the water aid, several other government programs that will greatly incresae our effecgtiveness to carry out other reforms, we will need help from security forces, whilst ours are still organized, they would be too stretched thin by the security demands.

If the United Kingdom could commit to a peacekeeping deployment deemed sufficient to support our police forces and security forces in the distribution of water supplies throughout Zaire. We would be happy to accept both peacekeeping operations as purposed, and we would be willing to take on more forces as your role within Zaire increases.

As for specialists and volunteers, Zaire is willing to pay and house professors to teach at our three largest public Universities, The University of Kinshasa, The University of Kisangani, and The University of Lubumbashi. We are looking for graduate students to lead labs, graduate level teachers with masters degrees or higher, and professors from the United Kingdom. We are especially in need of educators in the fields of science, agriculture, maths, education, public administration, and transport.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

To avoid the need for back to back emails and as per the request of a peacekeeping force, the Secretary of State for International Development, LEon Hurst, would invite the Zairian Minster of Foreign Affairs to a phone call.

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

Zairian Foreign Minister Laurent-Désiré Kabila would place a phone call from his encrypted line in his private office to the Secretary of State for International Development for the United Kingdom, Leon Hurst.

"Hello Mr. Hurst, It is wonderful to speak to you on behalf of my government and negotiate the peacekeeping mission between our two nations. As well as the exchange of students and the arrival of other specialists from your country to help the people of mine."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"Hello, thank you for taking my call on such notice. I thought it would be easier to discuss personally as opposed to emails, specifically on the subject of a peacekeeping mission. We are more than happy to arrange the exchange of student and transport of other specialisms to support the situation in Zaire, but I am rather interested to hear your perception for what the mandate would be of a peacekeeping deployment. As you may know, Britain remains committed to humanitarian aid where possible and of course, keeping the peace, might I ask for a full breakdown for what you would require from a peacekeeping deployment? Furthermore, a few follow up questions include who else, if anyone, is involved? Or would this be specifically between the UK and Zaire? Of course, we are able to offer resources to support our own operations but would there be any restrictions in what we deploy? and to conclude, we would seek a base as the main area of operations for the duration of our deployment.

As a side note.. what do you consider the risk factor in Zaire of conflict at this present time? Would you expect there to be armed conflict whilst we have a presence there?"

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

"Hello, sir, and of course, it is my pleasure to speak with you, and we are grateful that you have taken these considerations of aid so seriously. The situation in Zaire security wise is fairly stable, we have bolstered the police force with specialized anti corruption units as well as specialized anti terror and anti hostage units. The drop in corruption across the board lead by my government has also seen the security situation improve as civilians can once again trust the state to carry out fair and even handed justice, within the system.

The stability however, is also linked to the untapped economic potential, in the past, unregulated access to minerals has lead to the rise of warlords and fighting groups over those minerals. For now our government has decided to mostly let those resources lay dormant as we focus on rebuilding infrastructure and trust in the institution of our government. We are of the belief that as we exploit these minerals, the risk of instability rises, as such we are committed to allowing only the responsible mining of our minerals.

This also goes for humanitarian aid throughout the country. Aid stations are natural targets, and since our own security forces are undergoing reorganization we believe it would be irresponsible to open large scale aid operations in the Bush without the show of security to accompany them. That is to say, we do not believe that the risk is high, but we are taking every precaution to keep the risk of instability low.

The mandate of the peacekeeping deployment would be to protect the vital infrastructure projects of Zaire, to help with the training of our own security forces as they become organized, to build long term relations with the population, to protect schools and hospitals, as well as international aid stations, and to secure the routes of trade supplies and minerals from their extraction to their export or refinement within the nation.

We would not have any interest in restricting your deployment, only to say that we would like to always be kept aware of what units and deployments are going on within our nation, obviously.

This is a broad mandate, and we would be willing to work closely with you and your peacekeepers in changing and evolving this mandate as the situation on the ground improves. We have reached out to several partners, and we believe it is likely that peacekeepers from Ukraine, The Netherlands, Argentina, and Ireland will also be present in the country helping to protect assets, aid, and transport. Once we have confirmation from these nations, and once their deployments are on the ground, we would open up a multilateral communication chain to ensure that mission supported rather than hindered one another, and as certain nations prove themselves more committed certainly some nations peacekeepers will be withdrawn or scaled back and others increased."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"Thank you for the insight into the current standing situation, of course, unlike Zimbabwe, we would assume and understand that any peacekeeping operations in Zaire would be managed and maintained by your government, given it remains stable. That would be reassuring, especially if a number of foreign troops will be present in the region. Therefore, my proposal of a full run down would be the following:

• The United Kingdom will open an operation which will see the British Armed Forces deployed for the purpose of peacekeeping within the Democratic Republic of Congo, otherwise known as the United States of Zaire.
  • The mission would start and end under authorization of the current Zairian Government, and is mandated by this same government.
  • British Forces will deploy to locations under the instruction of Zaire, however, the equipment and number of troops sent to said location would be at discretion of the British Forces Commander in the area at the time who would evaluate based on risk factors and their understanding of the mission.
• The United Kingdom would request to use an airbase in Zaire as a main operating base to ensure British Command and support units are housed as appropriate, and offers the following ORBAT which is subject to change:
  • Initial Order of Battle:
    • 600 Personnel from the 1st Battalion, the Anglian Regiment. This would make the main force for the peacekeeping deployment which could be distributed as necessary.
    • 150 Personnel from 8th Regiment Army Air Corp. These would provide air cover and transport of British units as and when required and would be restricted to Lynx Helicopters and Britten-Norman Defenders.
    • Assorted Equipment which will primarily include Land Rovers and Saxon Patrol Vehicles.
• Other Considerations:
  • To transport ground vehicles and aircraft, we would like permission to deploy a navy vessel to the port of Port of Matadi which would prevent the need for cargo planes to transport large quantities of equipment.
  • Personnel would be delivered via air transport, specifically, Royal Air Force Tri-Star Aircraft which would require an airport to land at for a few journeys.

If you have any requested changes to the above, it sets out an idea of the initial plan. The suggested quantity of personnel makes our paperwork a little easier as it would be a full battalion." chuckled the delegate. "But we will change anything required, and if you are happy with the above, I would be happy to know if you have an ideal date for us deploying or is it more of a 'as soon as you can' situation? If so, we can arrange it over the next few days."

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

"This proposal looks very good from my end, and indeed while our situation is not ideal, as we come out of a brutal bush war, the most expensive in human lives since the second world war, but we have established the rule of law, and we have began to rebuild the trust in our institutions, our government once we have ensured that security can be maintained is planning massive economic expansions and infrastructure development projects, which will help lift our nation towards the new millennium. We are very excited by the prospect, and we are elated that your government has agreed to take a decisive role in the development of the Congo.

As for the deployment of a Naval Vessel to Matadi, we welcome it, and we would be welcome to the development of the Matadi Naval Base into a larger transnational base to aid deployment of friendly nations to the region of subsaharan Africa, a region that is a logistical nightmare for Europe, as we are discovering in our own aid coordination efforts in Zimbabwe.

As for an ideal date of deployment, we are prepared to welcome you at your convenience, and when it comes to increasing the security capabilities we can provide to our people we say the earlier the better. We of course would advise the deployment of the naval asset first, as its journey will take longer and it would be ideal for its arrival to coincide with the arrival of your personnel.

We would suggest Goma Air Force Base as your Main Forward Operating Base, as the Eastern Area of the country is in the most need of security support, from there we would establish several aid and security stations where your peacekeepers would work in conjunction with the Zairian National Police and Zairian Gendarme."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"That is understandable, of course, we will support you in anyway possible. I have just authorized the deployment of RFA Thames, one of our navies cargo carriers to deliver vehicles in preparation of our mainstream deployment of personnel. This should arrive at Matadi within the next week or so, shortly followed by our Tristar aircraft to bring in the support personnel. Under your suggestion and authorization, we will operate from Goma Air Force Base and ensure a safe delivery of our vehicles to that area. We would be grateful for the communications channel to be set up for those deployed and we plan to be operationally ready for instruction by the end of next week."

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

"We very eagerly await the arrival of your forces, for the moment they will be working almost exclusively with our National Police Force, as our own Defense Forces are in their final stages of reorganization and retraining. We also have a unit of Gendarme who will be deployed to assist your peacekeepers in the region. We are confident in our ability to liason with your forces and ensure a positive and safe experience for your men as well as for our own local populations. It will be a great opportunity for our own forces to learn in professionalism.

I will inform the liaisons for both the Gendarme and the National Police of the need to set up a communication channel for the joint cooperation between our forces."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"Absolutely, they should be arriving soon and we will be able to commence operations to support you. Despite the circumstances, I would like to think this is a stepping stone for much closer relations going into the future which will only develop.
That will obviously come with time, but if you are happy with that, we don't currently have any further points to raise unless you have another topic you'd like to raise?"

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

"Before you go I would be failing in my duties if I did not inquire again about a program for Zaire to Host Specialists and Volunteers from your nations, specifically, Zaire is willing to pay and house professors to teach at our three largest public Universities, The University of Kinshasa, The University of Kisangani, and The University of Lubumbashi. We are looking for graduate students to lead labs, graduate level teachers with masters degrees or higher, and professors from the United Kingdom. We are especially in need of educators in the fields of science, agriculture, maths, education, public administration, and transport.

We could arrange payments to ensure that all of these specialists received raises, as well as ensure payment to Her Majesty's Government for the Visa Exchange program. This would ensure that the program enriched the lives of the people of both our nations."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"That sounds like something we can help with, we would be able to open an outreach program which will allow volunteers to travel to Zaire to fulfill a variety of voluntary roles.
I will be able to discuss such a scheme with the government but I would like to address the main concern is the safety of volunteers.
Now that the UK has a peacekeeping force at play, it'll certainly help but do you see any risks to volunteers travelling to Zaire for such volunteer opportunities?"

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

"We have taken large steps to raise the safety levels across all of Zaire, the largest of these steps has been the institution of the Anti-Corruption Police, an independent branch of the National Police of Zaire, as well as the raising of the general police ratio in the nation to 400 per 100,000 inline with the higher ratios of European states. We have also worked through amnesty and funding programs to minimize bribes and the militant activity in the region. Thousands of militants have already taken the Amnesty offers, with the status throughout the country largely being the safest it has been in years.

While we cannot say with 100% certainty they will not every be the victims of a violent or petty crime, we can say that the risk of being accosted in Zaire, especially as a foreigner is the lowest of any place in Sub Saharan Africa, and indeed most of the world. The government here has become an agent for good, and agent for change. It is a duty we take very seriously."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"That is certainly reassuring, and of course, our deployed forces will be able to assess it from their perspective and we can review it further. Ideally I'd like to allow our forces to settle before we look into civilian programs, as I'm sure you can understand, any problems would cause a severe backlash on our government if we don't take all precautions. But that is politics for you, huh. Nonetheless, that can be handled from a military perspective for now."

JJSmithJr

 

[JJSmithJr]

"Indeed, we look forward to working alongside your government in the future, and our military is eager to work with your peacekeepers, please have a fine rest of your day sir."

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

Unless anything else was needed, Leon would say his farewell and hang up the call. Missions would be handed by the operations commander and no further agendas had been raised.

JJSmithJr