C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 004903

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF
STATE PASS AID
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL MOPS ASEC KPAO SO KE
SUBJECT: SOMALIA PIRACY -- JOWHAR-TFG MEMBERS LET CONTRACT
FOR COASTAL SECURITY SERVICES


SUMMARY
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1. (C) Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Prime
Minster Ali Mohamed Gedi has confirmed that members of the
TFG allied with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed signed on
November 25 a contract with a U.S.-origin company to provide
coastal security and training services. The primary goal
seems to be the enforcement of Somali sovereignty over its
fisheries, but the PM also cited combating piracy as a task
for the service provider. The price tag, cited in the press
as $50-55 million, is far beyond the reach of the Jowhar
TFG's own resources; PM Gedi stated the funds will come from
"foreign donors" but declined to elaborate. END SUMMARY

PRESS REPORTS CONFIRMED
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2. (C) TFG Prime Minster Gedi confirmed to Somalia Watcher
November 25 press reports regarding his TFG faction's
signing of a contract for coastal security services. TFG-
Jowhar Minister of Fisheries Hassan Abshir Farah (from
President Yusuf's Darood/Majerteen clan, former "Puntland
Minister of Water, and TNG Prime Minister) signed on
November 25 the marine security contract with Top Cat Marine
Security, Inc., a boat design and security firm apparently
based in New York, NY. Somali and international press
reported a price tag of $50-55 million for the first phase
of a two-year contract. Top Cat is to provide training for
a new corps of Somali Coast Guards and special forces to
monitor the 2,300-mile coast. The contractor is to create
five coastal security bases, and provide communications
equipment, high-speed patrol boats, ground transport
vehicles and at least two helicopters.

WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?
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3. (C) Top Cat Marine Security's rudimentary website gives
little indication as to the company's capacity to fulfill a

contract for coastal security. The only company executive
name cited is that of Peter Casini, who is listed as the
leader of the Top Cat Marine Security team and its powerboat
designer. The website information seems directed primarily
at a boat purchaser market. The site states, "Top Cat
offers essential turnkey services, including operational
training, inspection, and mechanical and maintenance
service. Backed by a core of highly skilled special
operations personnel with first hand experience in law
enforcement, military, and security experience, Top Cat
brings a level of expertise and training to its production
and development that is unsurpassed by any of its
competitors." The site states that the company provides
training in high-speed, emergency response, and patrol boat
operations skills; basic maintenance and mechanical
operations skills; navigation and handling; and evasive
tactics and interdiction. Top Cat's Peter Casini is quoted
in the Somali and international press as saying he will
provide speedboats that are "the worst nightmare for
pirates," and as indicating that his firm will target "a
mother ship off the Somali coast that is launching smaller
craft to attack commercial vessels."


4. (C) A "Google" Search of "topcat marine" brings up links
to web-logs ("blogs") that call into question the company's
financial stability, physical address, and legal status. An
article in Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reports that Top
Cat Marine Security may have failed to meet its payroll in
2004, citing in turn an article in the Charleston, SC
newspaper The Post and Courier dating from the period when
Top Cat had been operating in that state. The Post and
Courier article also reportedly tied Peter Casini to "a
string of failed business ventures and corporate
bankruptcies." The Daily Nation newspaper quotes Casini,
regarding reports of financial difficulties, as saying that
the reports may refer to a different company, calling his
firm "Top Cat Design." The article goes on to quote Top Cat
Marine Security's VP for public relations, Ms. Maryann
Johnson, as stating in response to an email inquiry that
"Top Cat remains financially secure and stable, with
contracts around the world with some of the largest defense
contractors." She also reportedly referred in the email to
Mr. Casini as an employee and not the owner of the company.

IS IT LEGAL?
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5. (C) Somali Watcher did not attend the November 25
contract signing, given that it would have been construed as
both (a) USG endorsement of the Jowhar faction of the TFG,
and (b) USG endorsement of the contract itself.
Somalia Watcher met with PM Gedi on 25 November after the
contract signing. Gedi confirmed the essentials of the
press reports on the contract; declined to specify the
funding sources that would pay the hefty sums involved; and
admitted that the legal basis of the contract was somewhat
shaky. He confirmed that such an arrangement committing
government resources would normally require reference to a
TFG budget duly approved by the parliament, but that in the
absence of either a budget or a sitting parliament, the deal
might have some legal problems. He stressed nonetheless
that the Jowhar-based members of the TFG are trying to do
something about both illegal fishing operations and the
rampant piracy in Somalia's economic exclusion area.


6. (C) Somalia Watcher requested that the PM authorize a
briefing from the Top Cat officials who had signed the
contact with the TFG-Jowhar. Gedi instructed Mohamed Ali
Nur "Americo", Finance and Administrative Manager, Liaison
Office of the Prime Minister in Nairobi, to make this
happen. Somalia Watcher followed up with Nur on November
28, to be told that the Top Cat representatives had left
Nairobi the previous night.

COMMENT:
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7. (C) The image of a private security firm of U.S. origins
engaging in interdiction operations in the Indian Ocean in
the near future is somewhat troubling. That said, we cannot
imagine how the signing of this contract can have any
immediate impact on Somalia's coastal security, unless the
high-speed patrol craft Top Cat Marine has promised are
already in Somali waters and fully crewed. The considerable
"noise in the system" regarding Top Cat's commercial and
financial bona fides; the minimal information available on
the firm; the lack of clarity as to the source of funding
for a very expensive contractual obligation; and the
extraordinary risk involved in entering into a commercial
venture with the deeply divided TFG, all point to an
extremely questionable enterprise with potential impact on
USG interests in the Horn of Africa. Lower Shabelle
"governor" and Hawiye warlord Sheikh Yusuf Siad "Indha Adde"
-- often labeled an Islamist extremist -- is quoted in the
Somali press as saying "I warn the USA against interfering
in Somali Waters." Post suggests Department seek additional
information from both Top Cat Marine and other USG agencies.
END COMENT.

BELLAMY