SOMALIA - ITALIANS SHARE CONCERNS OVER IGAD TROOP

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000950

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2015
TAGS: PREL SO IT
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - ITALIANS SHARE CONCERNS OVER IGAD TROOP
DEPLOYMENT.

REF: STATE 47850

Classified By: PolOff James Donegan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) On March 18, MFA Somalia Desk Officer Stefano Dejak
told PolOff that Italy shares U.S. concerns expressed reftel
over possible IGAD troop deployment in Somalia. Italy has
been speaking at length at high levels to the Ethiopian
government, which is looking to IGAD protection of its own
borders from fundamentalist incursions.


2. (C) Dejak said Ambassador Mario Rafaelli, Italian
Special Envoy for Somalia and Michael Zorick, PolOff Nairobi
will continue to consult regularly on this issue in Nairobi,
and that Italy's Ambassador in Nairobi, Enrico Gerardo De
Maio, had already expressed, during an IGAD meeting on March
17, Italian concern over deployment of troops from frontline
states. Dejak's personal view was that measured informal
communications would be more effective at this point than
public statements, but he promised to discuss our points with
his superiors at the MFA.

SEMBLER


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2005ROME00950 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL