FINLAND: SOMALIA-IGAD DEPLOYMENT PLAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000345 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2015 TAGS: PREL SO FI SUBJECT: FINLAND: SOMALIA-IGAD DEPLOYMENT PLAN REF: SECSTATE 47850 Classified By: POLOFF DAVID ALLEN SCHLAEFER FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to the MFA's Somalia desk officer Katri Leino on March 16 and spoke with her again on March 22. Leino said that she shared U.S. concerns about IGAD deployment of frontline troops to Somalia and opined that it would best to use troops from the African Union; however, she said that as Finland was not playing an active role in the deliberations, there was no official position on the issue. She said that she believed that Sweden was representing Nordic concerns in intra-EU deliberations. MACK